We have completed our Experience Sharing workshops where we had a conversation with guide dog owners and users of long cane, wheelchair and crutches to explore the question: “What is accessibility?”
The results of these workshops will be available via reports being released at the beginning of 2021. Meanwhile, you can find a few quotes below:
“I feel the urban environment has kind of created an apartheid system really, where people don’t really differentiate between disabled people. They want to involve us in their lives, our friends in particular, but the urban environment means that we lead a life where a lot of things are out of reach for us.”
(crutch user)
“It affects your posture because you constantly have to walk with your eyes looking to the ground. You have to see what is the status of the pavement rather than holding a conversation or looking ahead. So you are relying on people to get out of your way.”
(crutch user)
“Sometimes you just don’t have time [to cross] or cars come really fast. The wider the road, the harder it is to cross it.”
(crutch user)
“(…) when I use my long cane I walk really fast [so, when] pavements that are raised slightly or like, if a slab on the pavement isn’t put down properly. (…) [My cane] will jab into that and I always hit myself with it. ”
(long cane user)
“The only way I knew [where the street crossing was] was because I had the tactile pavement to bring me to where the crossing was.”
(long cane user)
“I need to get on the road (…) because there is a dropped kerb on one side [of the street crossing] and then no dropped curb on the other.”
(wheelchair user)
“It drives me mad when a car parks where the dropped curbs are meant to be (…) you suddenly find yourself stuck on a footpath because the car is parked in the one place and you need to get off”
(wheelchair user)
“[When I am crossing roads] I go slightly to [the side], away from the corner before I cross curb to curb, but there are quite a lot of crossings put at wrong angles. So, that’s where the planners and designers talking to people with lived experience would come in, [that] would be a great benefit.”
(guide dog owner)