The folks at the Mórahalom Sports Center had their hearts in the right place, even if there heads were nowhere in the vicinity. As you can see in the image, to accommodate visually-impaired visitors, the sign at the center also featured Braille. To prevent vandalism to the sign, however, it was placed behind a protective screen, thus making it impossible for the blind to feel the raised dots. But unlike others, at least they tried. [homar.blog.hu]
For the language heads out there, “akadálymentes WC” is literally an “obstacle-free toilet”, which makes as little sense in Hungarian as it does in English. No 3. indicates the “lobby” to the women’s changing rooms, presumably with holes drilled in the walls for the viewing pleasure of male sportsmen.
@Adrian: Agree that this is a weird way to express ‘accessibility’ in the negative and through a convoluted portmanteau (the verbal noun being ‘akadálymentesítés’), but isn’t this common when things that have largely been ignored in one culture have to find a way to be expressed? Just look at the language to do with ethnicity.
This already puts negative connotations on what should be an enabling process. ‘Accessibility’ or ‘mobility’ all pretty much all round positive ideas in English. I note that this awkward way of expressing things to do with enabling technologies is pretty universal in Hungarian e.g. http://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akad%C3%A1lymentes%C3%ADt%C3%A9s or akadalymentesites.lap.hu
But maybe as a language learner I just don’t ‘feel’ the difference enough. For me it just doesn’t go down well i.e. cigányútra megy in the wider and older meaning of that uncomforable phrase (ref: http://www.szekelyhirmondo.ro/article.php/Cig%E1ny%FAtra-ment/3480/ )
You know, I’ve always wondered if braille-readers
ever actually use these braille signs? Can it be
that they are just something that socially-conscious
sign creators think it’s (politically) correct to
make? Totally blind people most likely wouldn’t
locate the sign in the first place. And partially-
sighted people most likely see enough to read the
letters. I used to know some partially-sighted
people and never thought to ask them about this.
@Benny the dwarf says RELAX: I don’t know about in Hungary, as this place isn’t designed with old age, disabilities, prams etc… in mind, but elsewhere they are used. Sign language has only just become a recognised official language here, too. Only the traffic lights near the blind school (far end of Városliget) have audible warnings, too.
Last time I was in the zoo (4 months ago) a lot of the signs there also had braille and a 3D map sculpture near one of the entrances, so people could find which wy they wanted to head off. Of course, this was the entrance that open late and closed early, so finding the map in the first place would be the first obstacle. With that picture (above) I bet it’s nailed on the wall 3m from the ground anyway.