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What are wheelchair-bound people to do when a building alarm disables elevators? (lemmy.sdf.org)

submitted 4 months ago by some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

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We had a false alarm go off in the building where I work last week. The elevators automatically shut down forcing the use of the fire escapes. The building is 22 floors. I was lucky in that I’d just taken the elevator to the first floor to step outside on a break. When they finally let us back in, I wondered what someone with mobility issues is expected to do had the building been on fire. Just die? Have a kind soul carry them? With most people wfh at least a couple of days per week, this seems really dangerous for anyone who might get stranded.

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[-] AlexWIWA@lemmy.ml 2 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

One solution my friend and I came up with is a cardboard box, lay on it, drag them down the stairs. You drag them head first, on their back, and laying straight. It's painful, but they'll live. The idea is to sort of glide down the steps. We tried it out and it worked, but it hurt.

[-] electric@lemmy.world 2 points 3 months ago

Why head first though?

[-] sanguinepar@lemmy.world 2 points 3 months ago

I was wondering the same. Best guess I could come up with was that it meant the people assisting the person on the cardboard would be able to hold them by the feet and, standing on the higher steps, gradually slide them down in a controlled manner. Just a guess though.

[-] AlexWIWA@lemmy.ml 1 points 3 months ago

It was more to do with shoulders having a more gradual curve than heels and cheeks. We didn't try it with a box, but speculate that the box would make this less of an issue. The box idea came from sliding down the stairs as a kid

[-] AlexWIWA@lemmy.ml 2 points 3 months ago

Depends on how much cake you have I guess. Our cheeks and heels kept catching steps and there wasn't enough rigidity. Going head first seemed to glide down the stair more easily.

We didn't try with a box though, so maybe adding the box would enable feet first

[-] electric@lemmy.world 1 points 3 months ago

Oh that's a very good point.

this post was submitted on 20 Jul 2024

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