New airport 'not ready for the disabled'
Physically challenged people gather at the Administrative Court yesterday to hear a ruling on their petition to prevent the opening of Suvarnabhumi Airport without functioning facilities for the disabled.
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The Central Administrative Court yesterday refused to accept a plea by a group of disabled people to prevent the opening of Suvarnabhumi Airport on September 28 on the grounds that facilities for disabled people are not ready for use.
However, the court accepted their petition as a normal case and will consider whether it has jurisdiction over the group's complaint before registering it.
The group of about 50 people, representing the visually challenged, incapacitated war veterans and people in wheelchairs, said that apart from mandatory facilities specifically for the disabled, the new airport lacks facilities for elderly people, pregnant women, infants and small children.
Torphong Kulkhanchit, the head of a regional network for disabled people and an umbrella group representing all types of disabilities, said he was considering filing a malfeasance charge against caretaker prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra because of negligence. He said the prime minister had failed to instruct the government to provide facilities for disabled people and equipment needed by the physically disadvantaged.
In the complaint, the group said toilets for people in wheelchairs are situated at the farthest end of the restroom, with inconvenient access and narrow doorways. Floor tiles are used in all the passenger terminals and most of the facilities are too slippery and dangerous.
The group said revolving doors at all main entrances are too dangerous for small children or disabled people while for people in wheelchairs, the main slope is six metres long with no rest areas in the centre. There are also no handrails in many stairways in several of the new airport's buildings.
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