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| The electric lift is compact and collapsible, while the rail it rides on doubles as a handrail. |
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| Yutaka Sato, former curator of the Besshi Copper Mine Memorial House |
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An alarm beeps loudly, and the lift mounted on a rail along the staircase wall starts to move slowly. The person in the wheelchair on the lift platform clutches the handrail. A staff talks to the person while the lift gradually descends, and the words of the staff puts the person’s mind at ease.
This is a frequent scene at the Besshi Copper Mine Memorial House in Niihama, Ehime Prefecture. In February 2005, barrier - free modification work was undertaken that included the installation of an electric lift that allows wheelchair users to negotiate the facility’s 15 - step staircase. Ramps and handrails were also placed on all short staircases and steps inside and outside the building. These changes mean that wheelchair users arriving by car can remain seated from arrival to departure and still view all the exhibits in the building. There is even a wheelchair - accessible restroom on the first floor.
The memorial house opened in 1975 and has exhibits charting the history of the copper mine, which continued to produce ore for more than 280 years since it began operations in 1691. It also has historical records of the lifestyles of the miners and the mining technologies used. Built on a slope, the building contains many staircases and steps. When it opened, universal design and barrier - free concepts were as yet unknown, and the designers had not assumed that wheelchair users would come to visit.
“Recent years have seen a rise in the number of elderly and disabled people who come to visit us,” says Yutaka Sato, who was curator for about three years until May 2005 and who proposed the barrier - free modifications. “And with this increase in visits came increasing calls for handrails to be installed because the stairs were difficult to negotiate. We could more or less cope with one or two wheelchairs at a time, with our staff working together with the caregivers, but we couldn’t deal with groups at all, and sometimes we had to turn them away. This brought us to the decision to use our 30th anniversary as an opportunity to make the facility barrier - free.” |
