# Your arms are not broken. Open the door. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 13, 2004, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-arms-are-not-broken-open-the-door/279662 "2004-12-13T21:29:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![EmeraldGrue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dc4da7/32.png) [@EmeraldGrue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmeraldGrue)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-arms-are-not-broken-open-the-door/279662/21 "2004-12-14T00:27:14Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > Buttons? Where I’m from, automatic doors are, well, automatic. With the older ones, you put weight on a rubber matted steel plate. With the newer ones, you move under a motion detector. Why mess with buttons? Pssst… **iggy** isn’t talking about automatic sliding doors, but the kind on hinges that you would normally push open. Often there are big steel buttons near the door that open it automatically. ---
**Author:** ![davenportavenger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f8ce5/32.png) [@davenportavenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davenportavenger)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-arms-are-not-broken-open-the-door/279662/22 "2004-12-14T01:07:32Z")
The stupidest thing about able-bodied people using the handicapped door is that it takes so long to open. I’ve seen people push the button, then wait for the door to slowly slide open, a pissed-off look on their face. If they just would have used the regular door, they could have been out of the building and halfway down the block by then. Idiots. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-arms-are-not-broken-open-the-door/279662/23 "2004-12-14T04:34:26Z")
> [@iggy popov](#): > > I work in the library at my local community college. Every day I come across more than my fare share of idiot students. The ones that get me the most though are the people that are perfectly healthy, not carrying anything in their hands and yet, use the handicap door opener. The front desk is close to the doors and every day I have to hear the whining of the electric motor over and over again. If someone is carrying a load of books or cannot open the door for a legitimate reason thats fine, but how hard is it to open a door? The most frequent offenders for this are other people who work in the library and the jocks that wander in. Come on people, we’re all adults here. Open the door yourself. Is it situated so that the handicap opener is on the regular door, and it’s a choice of just opening it by hand, or pushing the button? Because if it’s one of those, I don’t blame them, when the mechanism is on a regular door and you have to open it in the normal way, it’s very stiff and hard to open because of the hydraulics or whatever, and it is painful for many people with shoulder or hand problems, like bursitis and carpal tunnel. If it’s on a completely different door, separate from the normal pedestrian doors, and isn’t one of the ones that make normal opening of the door difficult, then yeah, I can understand your ire. ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-arms-are-not-broken-open-the-door/279662/24 "2004-12-14T06:51:13Z")
Handicapped access doors are as wide (4/0) or wider than typical entrance (3/0), and the opening and closing speeds are slow on purpose, to allow unassisted people in wheelchairs or those who use walkers to get through without the door giving them a butt nip. Personally, I don’t use them with one exception-getting my stuff in and out of a trade show. My cart is about 3/6 wide so I use handicapped doors to take the show in and out (provided there are no handicapped persons attempting to use the door at that time). Once, at the Farm Show complex in Harrisburg, PA, I had a guy tell me that I couldn’t use the door because I wasn’t handicapped. My response? I am handicapped. I’m allergic to assholes. Kept on pushin’ my cart. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![teleute12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@teleute12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teleute12)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-arms-are-not-broken-open-the-door/279662/25 "2004-12-14T08:19:32Z")
When I was a wee teleute12, I’d always hit the handicap-door openers at the library because it was neat seeing them open and shut. I was seven. I’ve since grown out of that. What’s everyone else’s excuse? ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-arms-are-not-broken-open-the-door/279662/26 "2004-12-14T09:03:35Z")
There’s one building I frequent where there is half-circle shaped lobby with four doors, each door is a good 10 feet apart. The door closest to the parking lot is the handicap door. It kind of makes me pissed that they put the handicap door right there and I have to walk ten more feet to get to the regular door. The handicap door itself is also annoying to use because it’s slow opening when you push the button and it’s also slow if you open it manually. ---
**Author:** ![kimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f0a364/32.png) [@kimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kimera)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-arms-are-not-broken-open-the-door/279662/27 "2004-12-14T09:10:46Z")
☹ I love those doors. They give me a pleasure in life that few things do. I don’t press them because I am lazy but because I enjoy watching them open on their own. I press the button and IT OPENS! OMG! Now I don’t go out of my way to press the button, but I do nothing nothing more than to be happily frolicking along and come across a door with a button outside. Without breaking my stride, I smash the button and the door begins to open. It is open enough when I reach it that I just pull it the rest of the way open. I doubt that I am going to wear the doors out insanely earlier by doing this, but if it is so, I will be sure to send money to whoever Maintains The Door Buttons to make sure I can enjoy them forever. ---
**Author:** ![SkeptiJess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@SkeptiJess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkeptiJess)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-arms-are-not-broken-open-the-door/279662/28 "2004-12-14T12:06:46Z")
I’m like **ava** – I just like gadgets. So, if I notice a push-button door, I, quite often, push the button. Same reason I like self-checkout aisles – it’s fun to play with the scanner. My local Post Office has an auto-mail thing similar to a self-checkout – I use it even when the full-service line is short. Why? Because it’s cool! So, while I’m willing to own that I am, in general, rather lazy, in this instance laziness has nothing to do with it. And, **wiggumpuppy**? No need to take this: > [@](#): > > …is it unethical to use the handicap stall if the regular one is available? what if the regular one is not available? to Great Debates. Do a search, it’s already been thoroughly discussed. My daughter is disabled, so I researched this years ago. The Handicapped Stalls are for the convenience of, not the sole use of, the disabled. So use them if you like – so long as you’re not getting in front of some disabled person who’s already waiting in line. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-arms-are-not-broken-open-the-door/279662/29 "2004-12-14T13:02:30Z")
I find that the automatic doors are often hard to pull when you try to open them manually. You have to fight the mechanism to open the door. If there is an adjacent manual door, it’s better to use it if you don’t need to press the button. But if there is only one door and it’s automatic, then I can see pressing the button even for the able-bodied. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-arms-are-not-broken-open-the-door/279662/30 "2004-12-14T15:00:45Z")
> [@continuity eror](#): > > The stupidest thing about able-bodied people using the handicapped door is that it takes so long to open. I’ve seen people push the button, then wait for the door to slowly slide open, a pissed-off look on their face. If they just would have used the regular door, they could have been out of the building and halfway down the block by then. Idiots. Okay, yeah, that’s pretty annoying. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-arms-are-not-broken-open-the-door/279662/31 "2004-12-14T15:41:21Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > Buttons? Where I’m from, automatic doors are, well, automatic. With the older ones, you put weight on a rubber matted steel plate. With the newer ones, you move under a motion detector. Why mess with buttons? Because some places don’t want their doors to be automatic, but they also have to comply with regulations regarding access for the handicapped. In such cases, it’s easier to have a button-operated door and leave the able-bodied to push the doors open as normal. It also allows older buildings to comply with handicapped access regulations without springing for completely new sets of doors. My university library’s main entrance has three sets of doors. Rather than go to the expense of completely replacing the old array of doors with new automatic doors, they instead retrofit one set of doors with a motor and a button. The buttons look like [this one](http://www.rochesterunitarian.org/bldg_changes/frontdoor_ext.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Brendan\_Donovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bbce88/32.png) [@Brendan\_Donovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brendan_Donovan)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-arms-are-not-broken-open-the-door/279662/32 "2004-12-14T16:34:26Z")
I could never resist pressing a button. Especially if its shiney and red. ---
**Author:** ![sperfur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9adbd/32.png) [@sperfur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sperfur)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-arms-are-not-broken-open-the-door/279662/33 "2004-12-14T16:34:28Z")
> [@ava](#): > > ☹ > > I love those doors. They give me a pleasure in life that few things do. I don’t press them because I am lazy but because I enjoy watching them open on their own. I press the button and IT OPENS! OMG!.. > > …I doubt that I am going to wear the doors out insanely earlier by doing this, but if it is so, I will be sure to send money to whoever Maintains The Door Buttons to make sure I can enjoy them forever. Ditto. I don’t do it if you’re standing behind me waiting impatiently to get into the building. I will step back to allow someone who uses a wheelchair to go in front of me. Sure, I never grew out of the 7 year old mentality. If it brings me joy and doesn’t hurt you, what’s the big damn deal? ---
**Author:** ![Agrippina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8797f3/32.png) [@Agrippina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agrippina)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-arms-are-not-broken-open-the-door/279662/34 "2004-12-14T17:43:10Z")
I too press the button, but usually when there’s no one around. I mean, it’s not like the people pressing the button are shoving handicap people out of their way to get through the door. Or do you just like to feel morally superior than others? ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-arms-are-not-broken-open-the-door/279662/35 "2004-12-14T22:44:00Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > Because some places don’t want their doors to be automatic, but they also have to comply with regulations regarding access for the handicapped. In such cases, it’s easier to have a button-operated door and leave the able-bodied to push the doors open as normal. > > It also allows older buildings to comply with handicapped access regulations without springing for completely new sets of doors. My university library’s main entrance has three sets of doors. Rather than go to the expense of completely replacing the old array of doors with new automatic doors, they instead retrofit one set of doors with a motor and a button. Oh, _man_, **mhendo**. You just responded to a question from **Liberal** with an allusion to _dunh-dunh-duuunnnhhh!_ REGULATIONS! And I used to think you were smart. Well, actually, I still do think you’re smart. But for Pete’s sake, won’t someone think of the _children_? ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-arms-are-not-broken-open-the-door/279662/36 "2004-12-14T23:57:42Z")
At the University of Tennessee library, the ordinary doors weight a ton. These things were made out of big cast steel pieces, filled in with pretty darn thick glass. The first time I went to open one I nearly sprained my wrist trying to pull it open. From a stand I just didn’t realize how much force to put on it and it wouldn’t move; not locked, just too heavy. I used the automatic door. I didn’t use it much after that, because I figured out how to yank the damn thing open. but it was funny. ---
**Author:** ![Loopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loopus/32/15343_2.png) [@Loopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopus)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2004, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-arms-are-not-broken-open-the-door/279662/37 "2004-12-15T01:13:42Z")
There are a bunch of those-type doors at the university I attend. Some of them open really slowly when the button is pushed, so I usually just force those open manually. Some open really quickly when the button is pressed, so for those I press the button. In one dorm building, there are two automatic doors one right after the other: one to get into the hallway and one to get into the convenience store. The one opens really fast when you press the button, but the other is about the slowest door on campus. So, I now always push the button for the one and pull open the other. The doors are usually pretty tough to force open manually, and I always feel like I’m damaging the equipment when I do it. A few of them are REALLY hard to open manually. I’m thinking of this one door in particular which I have to grab onto with both hands, anchor my feet, and PUUUUULLLLL to get it to open at all. I always push the damn button for that one now. I wish they could get this technology to be consistent. Why can’t all the doors open quickly when the button is pushed, and be easy to open manually? ---
**Author:** ![pendgwen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3da27b/32.png) [@pendgwen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pendgwen)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2004, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-arms-are-not-broken-open-the-door/279662/38 "2004-12-15T08:25:17Z")
> [@Bear\_Nenno](#): > > Is the act of using the the auto door opener what bothers you? Or is it having to listen to the annoying sound of the motor that’s actually the cause of your frustration? The problem I’ve found is that these doors stay open for so long. I used to work in a hospital where there was a straight shot from the doors through the lobby down the long main hall. When someone used the handicap door rather than the regular one it stayed open for about 5 times as long. In the winter this meant that the hall was always freezing. Finally the administration had to put up signs telling people to only use the handicap access door if they actually had a handicap. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2004, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-arms-are-not-broken-open-the-door/279662/39 "2004-12-15T10:14:02Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > Because some places don’t want their doors to be automatic, but they also have to comply with regulations regarding access for the handicapped. In such cases, it’s easier to have a button-operated door and leave the able-bodied to push the doors open as normal. > > It also allows older buildings to comply with handicapped access regulations without springing for completely new sets of doors. My university library’s main entrance has three sets of doors. Rather than go to the expense of completely replacing the old array of doors with new automatic doors, they instead retrofit one set of doors with a motor and a button. > > The buttons look like [this one](http://www.rochesterunitarian.org/bldg_changes/frontdoor_ext.jpg). Thanks for the picture. It’s the first time I’ve seen one. Such special needs regulations, or course, are always [woefully inadequate](http://www.fape.org/obstacles.htm), fraught with [unforseen consequences](http://www.spedlaw.com/html/opnews/V12oct98n2.htm), and implemented purely for [political expediency](http://www.dailynews.com/Stories/0,1413,200~24781~2584859,00.html). Besides, it’s just stupid to have two sets of doors, one specially equipped that comes with a thousand government strings attached when you can have one wide actual automatic door that opens for everybody, including people in wheel chairs. By the way, what about people who don’t have the strength or agility to push the button? If you have spinal bifida or multiple sclerosis, are you just shit out of luck? ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2004, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-arms-are-not-broken-open-the-door/279662/40 "2004-12-15T12:55:37Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > By the way, what about people who don’t have the strength or agility to push the button? If you have spinal bifida or multiple sclerosis, are you just shit out of luck? So your logic is, if we can’t accomodate everyone, we should accomodate no one? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-arms-are-not-broken-open-the-door/279662.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-arms-are-not-broken-open-the-door/279662.md?page=3)