The Real Struggle to Survive

Have you seen this movie? I truly recommend it. Not only because of the suspense but because of the meaning behind it.

If you haven’t seen this film, I’ll share a quick summary.

Summary

There is a pregnant woman, Malorie, who dislikes social interactions. This leads her to doubt if she will ever love her baby. One day, her sister comes by to take her to a medical appointment. Everything goes well…but then suddenly chaos strikes.

You can see some news at the beginning of the movie referencing similar chaos, it was spreading, but she didn’t know that it had already reached them. A woman started to slam her head against the wall, frustration was seen across Malorie’s face. She ran towards her sister, told her the situation, they both started to drive to have a getaway.

Little did they know that everything was already lost. Her sister tragically died. Malorie was in a state of shock, she got shaved by other people. They immediately shelter themselves and start to investigate, the only way to prevent the psychotic threat that makes you suicidal, is by not looking at the monstrous creatures.

Years go by and she is surviving with her new partner, her son, and a girl who she took in. Everything goes well, but they have to adjust. Whenever they go out, they are blindfolded.

There are many scenes in which they are practicing surviving in the exterior spaces while being blindfolded. They train themselves to hear and analyze specific sounds, they learn how to walk with ropes as references, they use their touch as the main resource.

Distressful scenes are seen throughout this movie, and the worst is that you understand that the kids have always lived like this. They have never been able to play around in a park, they haven’t even seen trees and so much more.

You can sense their hardships. And this is what I want to analyze.

Analysis

As said before, they enhance other senses except for the visual one. What I was thinking was that this is not far from the current situation of the visually impaired.

THEIR MONSTERS are possible threats, the subway, cars, stairs; there are infinite examples. They have to learn how to survive in these urban cities. Did you know the difficulties they have to endure?

Their perceptions are so different from ours. And unfortunately, Mexico is not built for them. They are being discriminated against.

Spaces all around are fitted only for the vast majority, not for them. Where is the equality there? Transportation is useless. There are not even proper signs to designate paths in a subway, let alone its tedious and chaotic environment.

Spatial discrimination is present by all means. They have to survive to be able to be like you and me. This can’t be! They should only need to have the same difficulties as others. This disability is ultimately their limitation.

The design of these spaces has to accommodate them. Just reference this movie, analyze how difficult it is for them to get around. It would be harsh to do so day to day, right?

The only place in Mexico City that publicly has an intentional design is a library. The José Vasconcelos library has proper signage all around the premise of the space. I’ve never seen so many designed in one single place. Of course, it’s not perfect but it can be used as a reference point.

It's destined for all visually impaired: everything has different textures, there are special booths for lectures, contrast with lights and shadows are also important, general sound is also enhanced. The usage of Braille is of course heavily implemented.

This design is the first one that has been intended for the visually impaired. The architects who designed it have also built a hotel with these characteristics. Why not all spaces can be reconstructed like this?

This space intensifies all of your senses, truly an inspiration!

If you’d like to investigate more about this library, I share the following link:

https://www.architectural-review.com/buildings/biblioteca-para-ciegos-y-debiles-visuales-ciudadela-mexico-city-by-taller-de-arquitectura-mauricio-rocha-gabriela-carrillo

Start to look around your spaces. Do you have facilities for the blind? If so, what are they? Do you think you could go throughout your day without looking? What would be the difficulties?

These are the questions I’ve been asking myself even before I saw this movie. And sadly, I recognized that we architects may be hypocrites. It may seem very direct, but why do we design only for some and not for all?

I have recently read many books about this and it amazes me the number of complications the cities’ designers create for them. I once had a blind teacher who publicized many books about this subject, and with this, I realized the responsibility we have.

I am an architect and I will always have this in mind, no matter the design of the place intended. I will always try to give my best effort to prevent this, to add my grain of salt to the mixture.

It’s a great effort FOR ALL, but better spaces FOR ALL are needed. Equality must be seen in all shapes and forms, architecture included.