Experts .... ha

So I just attended an extremely timely and informative seminar about the very recently revised (July 10th!) Minnesota Accessibility/Building Code.

The individual giving the lecture is so far above the "expert" level that I cannot believe that he has been working for the state for at least 10 years (The last time I attended a seminar by the same guy). What makes him an expert in accessibility can be debated, the least of all reasons is because he is wheelchair bound.

I am sorry that he is in a wheelchair, but since his demeanor, knowledge, speaking skills, technical knowledge and general desire to help others I am sort of glad that his life includes that disability. Because of his interests, aptitude, life situation and ultimate expertise, we in the room are all able to personally ask this "government bureaucrat" questions on how to not only meet the code minimum requirements, but what is the rational behind the rule, and we usually get a volunteered personal answer that helps us understand his (disabled) perspective. As opposed to his (code official) perspective.

For instance: If a pool needs two accessible entrances (yes I now know the threshold when two are required over one, We have two solutions: a lift or a ramp. I raised my hand, and asked "Which is the preferred method?"

His answer was very specific, to the point and unguarded. All 150 of us laughed in unison at his response: "My personal preference is for the lift, because I'll be damned if I'm taking my personal wheelchair into the water, and there is never a crappy around that I can use to get into the pool." (chlorine bleaches the plastic and vinyl, water rusts out the rest)

I hadn't even considered this answer. Unfortunately, this spawned a dozen other inane questions, such as "Doesn't the metal on your wheelchair get too hot in the sauna to let you get back out?" and "So how do you get onto the toilet?" Sorry for that Curt.

Anyway - His expertise in his job is so specific that he cannot fully answer other, non-accessibility, code questions. Luckily Minnesota has another expert in general code (Hi Jerry!) that we architects rely on during the course of designing and building projects.

I, and generally all other architects, have been trained in, and truly aspire to be "generalists". While I/we excel at knowing a little bit about many things, the "expert" excels at knowing everything about one thing.

Luckily there are scheduled points in time when paths can cross. All of us generalists took to work our tiny bit of knowledge on this topic (or at least his contact info). I wonder what the expert takes from the exchange....other than another dose of contempt for us know-it-all architects.

Any experts out there working with generalists....what's in it for you?