Gurney Paragon Mall Penang (Part 1)

I checked this mall on the 26th Aug 2012. As expected from all new public buildings, basic facilities for wheelchairs access were there. (I believe mainly because of the requirements of the Uniform Building By-Laws.)  Again as expected, the disabled access were poorly designed.

The first thing I notice was that steps were everywhere. There were steps at the door of every shops and all of the nice open-air eating areas. I am not anti-steps but surely ramps could be built beside some of these steps. The steps also made the place very unfriendly to young children. So parents please watch your children when you bring them there!

The best feature of this mall was the gentle ramp at the entrance. But I could not find any disabled people's car park near there. (See photo below.)

However, not a ramps were good. The one leading to the toilet was a bit too steep for me. (See photo below.)

I also found the ramp in the photo below to be so steep that it may cause a wheelchair-user to tilt backward and fall. The gradient was very far away from Malaysian Standard's 1 to 12.

The toilet was reasonably spacious and a flip-up bar was there, correctly installed. But they forgot to place a mirror there. (See photo below.) 

I also found the light switch outside the toilet to be too high for me.

Due to time constrain, I did not have the opportunity to check first floor. If you have any information or photos about the access there, please feel free to post them as comments, or email me with short descriptions so that I can post them in this blog. Remember the purpose of this blog is to share information with other wheelchair-users.

How to enter Penang Times Square

A friend wanted to know how a wheelchair-user can enter Penang Time Square from road side. Here is how. (Please follow the numbers in the photos below.)

1 is a probable drop off point where wheelchair user can come down from a bus or car. Go to 2 and turn into 3. This leads to the open air car park.

If one goes from 3 to 4, then one would see the main entrance of Time Square. Unfortunately, there is no ramp at the entrance. (We have to work at this problem.)

A wheelchair user needs to go from 4 to 5 to 6, 7, 8 before he / she can see the ramp. It is a small and narrow ramp, often hidden behind many motorcycles. 

Wheelchair access is manageable though not good after one reach point 9. I hope this is useful to the friend who requested for this information.