It’s worth noting that, for the purposes of non-discrimination, the Ageing and Disability Commissioner Act groups people with age-related issues along with people with other disabilities.
It’s also significant that the SSMA section 5 states that changes to common property for accessibility require only a simple majority (not a super-majority as for a special resolution) while section 132C outlines the issues the scheme should consider including “the extent to which the use of the accessibility infrastructure will be available to all or some of the lots in the strata scheme” and “the extent to which not installing the accessibility infrastructure will cause or be likely to cause detriment to be suffered by … the person requesting the installation of the accessibility infrastructure.”
But there’s another potentially overriding consideration – Safework NSW says that stairs must have at least one handrail if they are narrow and one on each side if they are wider. It also defines stairs as having at least two risers. So it could be that the strata scheme doesn’t have a choice – if there are stairs, there should be a handrail.