Disability as Architectural Criticism

Since badgerbag is busy livetweeting the debate, I'm totally going to steal her excellent link to an intriguing architectural criticism post re: Yale's Rudolph building, informed by the critic's experience with mobility impairment. A little taste:

I have literally rolled (in a wheelchair), limped and crutched in many “masterworks” of modern architecture. Here is my not-so-brilliant critical assessment of disability in architecture: Anything that claims to have been inspired by some type of architectural heroism or any building in which someone might describe the architect as “heroic” (as is virtually always the case with this particular work by Rudolph) will generally impart a bumpy ride for the disabled inhabitant.

Even when they were easy to climb, I was never very impressed by long staircases as architectural "statements." They made for uncomfortable seating, too.

Why yes, there are disability studies scholars who focus on geographies of disability.