@nnoble
Ever wondered why you hardly ever see a wheelchair?

Sure. And never once on the campus where I've worked for over a decade.

@nnoble
Miraculous good stuff TCM ;-)

@Janjal
A civilised city is one in which there are profiles in the sidewalk to guide the blind and wheelchair ramps at banks even when there are no blind nor wheelchair users.
In my neighbourhood there are lampposts on the guide profiles for the blind and the ramp at the bank is so steep that one cannot take it with a wheelchair and on top of that there is a flowerpot on top of it.

I wander why only banks have wheelchair ramps. Maybe wheelchair bound people do a lot of banking.
A step down at the subway elevator makes perfect sense. If not the subway will be flooded when it rains ;-)

@lemon lover: "A step down at the subway elevator makes perfect sense. If not the subway will be flooded when it rains"

Ah, good point. I remember the floods in the city few years ago!

"A civilised city is one in which there are profiles in the sidewalk to guide the blind"
I see those things in the sidewalk all over Kunming. It would help the blind a lot more if there were no cars parked on them.

@ AllPage: I second that. Majority of the ones in the street, parked or otherwise, are a pain in the butt too, and I'm not even blind.

The blind don't need profiles to guide them, especially in China if they have obstacles the above mention (including sudden drops when work is being done on the sidewalk).

They use sound, smell, touch (an eye stick is often used) and memory. They can see light and dark, follow the 'suns echo' and sense well the air movements (intersections). There are a multitude of things to sense for a blind person to become familiar with a city.

I have noticed braille is becoming more common around the city which is quite useful.

Those profiles are so deep as I have never seen in any other country. Annoying to walk on, and dangerous on a bike with the constant slippery pavements.
Amongst the other things, a civilized place to me is the one in which tiles and floors are chosen properly for the outside.
And where shop owners don't throw their buckets of soapy liquid on the roads.
And how about the layer of pork fat on the roads nearby the BBQ areas?