How A California City’s Sidewalks Were Redesigned for Wheelchairs

The tale of how Berkeley , California , first scram wheelchair - approachable pavement in the 1970s is an unlikely mixture of public protest , anti - war sentiment , and the grassroots potential difference of urban provision for the people , by the people . compose forBoom , Bess Williamson explicate how the city began to redesign itself for everyone to pilot .

A story of Disability Rights , although seldom included in news report of the Sixties in Berkeley , runs alongside the account of protest against University of California policy , the War in Vietnam , and the formation in general . During these troubled years , a community of mostly young disabled person , many of them students or graduates of the University , give a bell ringer not only on the politics of the city , but the physical landscape as well .

From 1970 to 1974 , the City build the first design , wheelchair - accessible route in the United States . These sloping curbs — varying in innovation over time — created the physical creation for one of the largest and most active communities of disabled people in America .

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cover charge of The Independent depict Berkeley ’s “ Wheelchair Route ” interior decorator : from right , Hale Zukas ; his attendant and confederate Eric Dibner ; residential area organizer Kitty Cone ; and an unidentified benefactor . good manners OF THE CENTER FOR sovereign LIVING .

Berkeley was boniface to a originate populace with disability in the sixties , including people with important paralysis due to spinal corduroy injuries , cerebral palsy , and polio . This residential area centered around a pocket-sized group of pupil who subsist in a especial hall within Cowell Hospital , the only edifice on the University campus that could accommodate wheelchair users . In an epoch before governing requirement for “ accessible ” design , these students made their own style through the mountainous terrain of campus and city . They rumbled through town on hefty , underlying motorized wheelchair , wheeling in the street or relying on Quaker to sweep them up steps and over curbs .

For these untried people , the disaffected spirit of Berkeley in the Sixties was infectious . The Cowell residents band together , lobbying for slap-up accessibility on campus , more living accommodations options and their own wheelchair repair shop . By the close of the decennium , recall one educatee , “ everything began happening at once . ” The campus was charged with political intent as dissenter clashed with authorities on campus and in the city . In this diachronic second , Berkeley ’s handicapped community search a outer space for themselves in the broader cityscape .

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Center for Independent Living director Phil Draper at the corner of Telegraph Avenue and Blake Street in 1984 , go Where You Wheel on Telegraph Avenue .

The first move to build curb track on Berkeley sidewalk come out of a coincidence of 1960s politics . In 1969 , Berkeley erupted in riots over the University ’s program to build on an untended lot near campus that functioned as a “ People ’s Park . ” After riots that brought the National Guard to town , the City renovate the Telegraph Avenue business district , widen pavement in a motion towards local street life . In keep open with a brand raw building code , these renovation include spacious , bland kerb “ ramps ” positioned at the turning point of the pavement .

Curb cutting diagrams by Yoshiaki Imafuku , in Going Where You Wheel on Telegraph Avenue ( Berkeley , CA : Center for Independent Living , 1984 ) .

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While Berkeley ’s wheelchair exploiter greet the young cuts with pleasure , they also notice business organisation about accommodating a range of disabled persons . The wide , flat curve where the pavement flatten into the street caused problems for blind pedestrians who relied on a sharp kerb to detect the boundary of the pavement . Even for wheelchair users , the cut ’ diagonal position caused a dispute with turn cars . A visiting Japanese student , himself a wheelchair user , sketched the pro and cons of various curb bit cut innovation , testify how the bridle write out that angles into the street can push wheelchair user into dealings .

For a second round of curb renovations , the disabled residential area of Berkeley take an active design role , function more than 100 land site for cuts along Telegraph in the south of campus , and along Shattuck Avenue in downtown Berkeley . They also offered a young innovation : a extortionate , sharp track set outside of the main footer crossway . These new cuts were exorbitant for wheelchair users , but play a via media for a range of pedestrian demand — portend the “ universal ” ideal of later planning and aim projects .

Berkeley ’s Wheelchair Route , drafted by Ruth Grimes . Dots show the location of 125 new curb cuts . Map from City of Berkeley , Resolution No . 45,605 - N.S. ( February 13 , 1973 ) .

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The early change on Telegraph and the surround field were the first in a series of designing projects to accommodate Berkeley ’s large disabled population . Since the 1970s , Telegraph has been renovated and resurfaced many clip over . In place of the original mat “ ramps ” are curbs with textured concrete slabs to identify the change in airfoil for the unreasoning , often nock with bright yellow inserts with hump . design decades before recent projects such as the Ed Roberts Campus ( see article by David Serlin ) , these curb track were small - profile , but nonetheless authoritative elements of an accessible city .

Raised curb bit cuts at Telegraph and Dwight avenues , 2011 . photograph by Bess Williamson .

This situation was earlier published as “ The People ’s Sidewalks : Designing Berkeley ’s Wheelchair Route , 1970 - 1974 ” inBoom . Boom : A Journal of Californiaaims to create a lively conversation about the vital social , ethnic , and political issues of our times , in California and the world beyond .

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