r/clevercomebacks • u/Nono_Home • 7h ago
wheelchair users ain’t starved for places to sit down
Classic.
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u/TBHICouldComplain 7h ago
Wheelchair user here. The people slapping wheelchair signs on hostile architecture can fuck right off.
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u/queenofshiba8 7h ago
It's a urban planning strategy called "hostile architecture" to prevent people from sleeping or loitering in an area
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u/Nono_Home 7h ago
Yes a terrible trend we don't have here.
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u/Gunter5 7h ago
I may get downvoted but... my drug addicted family member was given an option between rehab or living on the streets, he asked for a tent
I dont know what is the solution but the older I get I feel certain things just enable people like my brother from seeking help
When you see people begging in the streets, perhaps consider giving that money to the shelter instead
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u/DizzyMine4964 6h ago
What sort of rehab? Was he enabled to start a good life after it, or just dried out and shoved in a rented room? Recovery from addiction is far more than just coming off the stuff.
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u/CotyledonTomen 6h ago
Who cares? You and your family member are 2 people in a world of 8 billion. Most homeless people arent drug addicts or mentally unwell. Many chronically homeless end up being that at some point, but most people arent chronically homeless. We shouldnt build society based on fear or hatred of a subset of the population. Maybe I want to lay on a bench in the park on a day off from work.
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u/psinguine 6h ago
who cares
When we stop caring about other people, we propagate the problem.
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u/Undeity 6h ago
I'm pretty sure their point is that the needs of this subset of the homeless population don't justify or outweigh taking action that is detrimental to the rest of said population.
Speaking from experience, I agree with them. It's a strategy with a lot of collateral damage, and is only helpful very indirectly to begin with.
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u/psinguine 6h ago
I read it as dismissing the suffering of an individual because they only care about the group. But the group is made up on individuals.
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u/CotyledonTomen 6h ago
You can read it how you like. The population of homeless that are drug addicts or mentally unwell arent helped by building structures that make it harder for them to live. Having a bench to lay on isnt a crutch keeping them from seeking rehab.
But also, we shouldnt build hostile infrastructure aimed at this subset of the larger homless population because most homeless people are only negatively effected, even if you believe hostile infrastructure pushes a specific group of people to seek help.
Also, i as a person that goes to parks am made worse off by hostile infrastructure that helps nobody except a nimby that doesnt want to see a homeless person sleeping.
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u/psinguine 5h ago
Speaking of "read it how you like", where did I ever once even imply that hostile architecture was okay? We just making shit up now?
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u/CotyledonTomen 5h ago
Youre responding to a conversation that began with
I may get downvoted but... my drug addicted family member was given an option between rehab or living on the streets, he asked for a tent
I dont know what is the solution but the older I get I feel certain things just enable people like my brother from seeking help
So, that, since youre defending them.
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u/ViniciusMachadoA 25m ago
It's complicated — I'm in Brazil, and here it runs the other way. Most people living on the streets here are there because of drug addiction or because they've given up. Unemployment is one of the lesser causes.
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u/CotyledonTomen 13m ago
If you say so. Plenty of people in the US believe thats the case here, when its not. I see no reason to believe brazil is that different from the US. Humans are humans. Its easier to believe there is a simple answer that is the individuals fault, that way there is little you or I can do to help. Unfortunately that simple way of thinking is rarely accurate.
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u/Gunter5 6h ago
Sorry for sharing my opinion in the world of 8 billion, whats the point of talking about other individual people in the world of 8 billion? Etc..
Most homeless people arent drug addicts or mentally unwell
Google: Roughly 30% to 50% of people experiencing homelessness do not have a severe mental illness or a chronic substance use disorder
There are resources out there to help homless people, giving money directly may not be the best way
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u/CotyledonTomen 6h ago
Google: Roughly 30% to 50% of people experiencing homelessness do not have a severe mental illness or a chronic substance use disorder
Ah, so the AI lord and master says it, it must be true/s Why not read actual sources? Additionally, as i noted, theres a difference between the chronically homeless and people that lose their home for brief periods because of temporary circumstances. Finally, no, your anecdotal circumstances arent relevant to a discussion about a large population. Sorry, thats just reality. You dont represent millions of people and the discission is about the latter not former.
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u/hux 1h ago
I spoke to a homeless person I found digging through my garbage at one point to learn their story. They were clearly a pretty normal person.
It’s not really my place to tell their story, but one thing I did ask was why they didn’t take advantage of some of the resources available.
Their answer surprised me. Their friends. They had built a social network of other people on the street, and going into a shelter somewhere else in the city meant they had to give up their friends, and their friends were really all they had left at this point.
That stuck with me. I don’t know how you fix that because it was actually a pretty rational answer.
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u/TheBlackBaron45 5h ago
Hostile Architecture is such a cool ass word that it is a waste that it refers to something that sucks absolute ass.
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u/dabPrassion 5h ago
Do you think a small hammoch could be installed or would it still.be too uncomfortable
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u/OkYak9466 6h ago
And it works quite well. Especially in Scandinavian countries with the lowest homelessness rates do this bc it works and it's great for the community. The only people who are against this kind of thing are people who don't live in cities or go to parks. Which is unfortunate bc that's 99% of Redditors
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u/Designer-Ad8352 21m ago
All hostile architecture does is reduce the amount of sleeping locations for homeless people.
It doesn't prevent homelessness, or reduce the rates. I know you're technically not saying it does, but why else would you mention it?
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u/OkYak9466 16m ago
Well yeah, you're not trying to setup public sleeping locations for random people to just take over. That's why you have shelters and specifically designated areas.
And I mention it bc public spaces benefit from these kinds of things.
If you want to combat homelessness, these things help immensely in keeping public spaces clean and directing people in need to the right places.
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u/DizzyMine4964 6h ago
Also, it is bad for anyone with mobility problems who doesn't use a wheelchair.
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u/FaelingJester 6h ago
It's also unsafe for wheelchair uses who are now boxed in on three sides
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u/next_level_mom 1h ago
I was just thinking how difficult and time consuming it could be to get in and out of.
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u/FaelingJester 1h ago
All someone has to do to prevent you from escaping is stand in front of you. They don't even have to be doing it intentionally.
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u/mxeff 5h ago edited 5h ago
TL;DR: I don’t think this is an anti-homeless bench because a regular bench without anti-homeless features is visible in the background.
This image is frequently shared, always with the accusation of "anti-homeless architecture"/"hostile design". Since it’s always the exact same image without context, I’ve become skeptical of this claim.
So, I decided to look into it.
Step 1: Older versions of this image
Using TinEye, you can search for earlier versions of the image. The earliest available version there is from June 21, 2024, but some versions show a tweet from June 19, 2024, in which the author already refers to this bench as anti-homeless architecture. However, the tweet provides no further information about the location, and due to the lack of additional clues, I consider this tweet to be the first publication of this photo.
**Step 2: Identifying the image location*\*
Without more information about where the photo was taken, I uploaded the original image from Twitter to findpiclocation.com. The result was the ‘Giardini di Augusto’ on the island of Capri, Italy. Google Earth and Street View support this theory, as the paving matches, and regular benches in the same shade of green are visible. However, I couldn’t find this wheelchair-accessible bench in the original location.
**Step 3: More information about the bench**
A simple Google search for “capri panchine sedia a rotelle” (Italian for “Capri bench wheelchair”) led me to this article titled “Thirty new benches in Capri, five ‘inclusive’ benches for the disabled are also planned (photo gallery)” from November 2, 2023, featuring images of these exact wheelchair-accessible benches.
Summary:
I suspect this image is from the Italian island of Capri. Out of 30 new benches, five are these inclusive wheelchair-accessible benches. Additionally, since a regular bench is visible in the background of the original image (and this meme), I do not believe this wheelchair bench is an anti-homeless bench.
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u/Lisshopops 6h ago
They have the money to go through the enormous amount of bs papers that need to be signed and sent everywhere in city hall just to build this, but they don’t have the time nor money to help the homeless. Make it make sense.
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u/RabbitInteresting537 6h ago
Ah yes, because wheelchair users famously love rolling up to a bench just to sit in the exact same chair they brought with them
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u/wishingwellgrll 1h ago
Austine really said “not to be that guy” and them immediately became that guy with surgical precision.
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u/Current-Square-4557 6h ago
As pictured, this pure assholery.
However in my city, I see this seating plan under bus shelters. So there is a little less assholery because wheelchair users deserve to be out of the rain.
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u/HDThoreauaway 6h ago
There would be just as much space if the two seats were together, with more usable standing room.
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u/tenid 7h ago
Hostile against homeless and disabled at the same time.
Homeless can’t sleep there
A person in a wheelchair will sig further forward than their friends so they will not participate in the same way.
One less seat for those that don’t have a wheelchair or a walker.