Unwalkable

I am not yet a senior, but I am I getting there. I have a heart I am not legally classified as a person with disability or PWD.

- MARVIN TORT

As far as our mobility laws are concerned, I fall into a donut hole. I am invisible. I do not exist. I am treated like any ablebodied adult.

After a doctor's appointment last week at Makati Medical Center on Amorsolo Street, I decided to "enjoy" the simple pleasure of walking over to Salcedo Village, just across Ayala Avenue, to meet friends for lunch near Velasquez Park.

For someone who occasionally walks with a cane, the stroll was difficult but still doable. But for someone using a wheelchair, I believe it would have been impossible. And public transportation, just to cross Ayala Avenue, would not have been a real option.

Ayala Avenue, the central business district's main road, has wide enough sidewalks. But once you leave this major thoroughfare, the pedestrian route from the hospital into Salcedo Village quickly becomes unmanageable for anyone "on wheels."

Between Salcedo and Rufino streets, there is only one roadlevel crossing on Ayala that people who have difficulty with stairs can safely use. The unkindest cut was that during my walk, a traffic enforcer chose to stop pedestrian movement across Ayala Avenue in favor of cars heading toward EDSA.

He decided to override the light and hold back pedestrians to move more cars. Then he left people with roughly 15 seconds to cross an eight-lane avenue. If you were old, in a cast, pushing someone in a stroller or a wheelchair, you could only pray that your feet would lead you to safety.

Traffic engineering math confirms how unreasonable that was. Standard practice for signal timing assumes a walking speed of a little over one meter per second, the pace of a reasonably fit adult with no health issues and no heavy bags.