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Cars parked on the side within
Soi Paniadchang create obstacles for wheelchairs users.
Warunya Thongrod
Physically challenged residents using wheelchairs near the Redemptorist
Vocational School for Persons with Disabilities are urging Pattaya City Hall
to move faster on the already approved plan to construct a dedicated path
through their neighborhood.
More than 3 million baht has been allocated for construction of a wheelchair
path from Big C Extra on Central Road down Soi Paniadchang leading to the
Father Ray Foundation. Yet while the money is approved, construction still
hasn’t started, leaving the disabled navigating a narrow, pothole-lined
street.
“Certain areas of the roads are uneven and have holes, causing twice the
difficulties because, if we are not careful, a front wheel may fall into a
hole and we will fall off the wheelchair,” said Singkhorn Thimdee, 28. “My
friends have fallen from their wheelchairs many times already and the soi is
very narrow. We have to be careful of cars and bikes, particularly at night
when we have to purchase lights for our wheelchairs as a signal for others
to notice us. … I ask that Pattaya City Hall improve the roads, including
increasing inclined paths that are too very high for wheelchair users.”
Jetsada Khunpol, 30, said parked bikes and cars pose obstacles, as well as
residents who have created their own PVC waste-drainage pipes.
“Some of us do not have enough strength to lift our front wheel, taking a
long time before we can even lift the wheel,” Jetsada said. “I ask that
drainage pipes, even the city’s own, be narrower.”
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