The elevator is the only way wheelchair users can get to the gym. For a long time he did not work. © Novy
Weilheim – Wolfgang John's frustration runs deep. He is responsible for the wheelchair group at TSV Weilheim. Normally, the current four members meet every week to do sports together for an hour and a half. But since June 2022, this is no longer possible. The reason is a defective elevator in the Wilhelm-Conrad-Röntgen-Mittelschule.
The wheelchair group is allowed to use the school's gym for their sports lessons. To get to the hall, which is a little lower, there is an elevator. John reports that there have probably been problems with it from time to time in recent years. "It happened that the doors could not be opened or closed, or the elevator simply did not work at all for weeks," John writes in a letter to the press. However, the good piece completely gave up the ghost in June 2022. The "wheelchair sport", as John calls it, could no longer take place because there was no other way for wheelchair users to get into the hall.
For a long time, nothing had happened. "Wheelchair users are usually very capable of suffering, but even they started to get impatient after half a year of standstill." At the beginning of 2023, the news: The elevator will be repaired and after the carnival holidays, sports can start again. But according to John, the elevator still didn't work. It was not until the end of April that it worked again – at least in one direction. It lacked the button to get the elevator after exercise and go back up, as John reports. He continued: "The state of affairs was reported on the same evening and the situation was promised to be remedied in the same week." But even 14 days later, nothing worked. John is frustrated: "Eleven months – you have to let it melt in your mouth, eleven months the responsible people don't manage to repair an elevator. And when the elevator is finally repaired, you forget to install the button to call it and open the door."
What the administration says about it
Marco Schwentzek, Head of Property Management, commented on the problem to the Kreisboten. He reports several factors that are to blame for the fact that it took so long to repair. First of all, the error analysis took quite a lot of time. In addition, the effects of Corona were still being felt in June 2022 - the necessary components were a long time coming. Last but not least, it was also a question of money. Schwentzek speaks of high costs for the repair. The city had to make advance payments here. The costs would then be "passed on" to the middle school association, which, however, would first have to be
approved again by the municipalities involved.
However, the elevator has now been repaired. The only thing missing is the switch. Schwentzek expects this to come in one to two weeks. He couldn't say exactly. The responsible employee is currently not in the house.
John remains skeptical. He reports that TSV was informed by e-mail a good two weeks ago that the switch would be installed in the same week. But nothing happened. John ultimately draws the conclusion: "Many people, not only the so-called marginal groups, are simply no longer noticed, forgotten more and more by politicians, decision-makers in administrations, committees or elsewhere. Their needs are no longer taken seriously, after all, there are more important things. The rest is done by bureaucracy and/or indifference."
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