Gordon Brown, His Recession Plans and Access

Previous recessions have been dealt with by different governments in different ways. I am not alone in saying that the depth and predicted duration of the current recession is extremely severe. In the past, as they were minor in comparison they were dealt with by changes in fiscal policy i.e. changes in interest rates, VAT, income tax rate, personal allowances and so on. It has been clear that changes to fiscal policy alone would not work to get us out of this hole we are in. Therefore, further stronger and what can be seen as more radical tools need to be used.

In Gordon Brown’s latest effort to boost the economy he has decided to spend billions of pounds of the tax payers monies on not only “bailing out” the banks but also trying to bring forward public expenditure on capital projects but in the spirit of my blog, I need to bring this into the access arena.

I am concerned that when these projects are being forward, often and more so recently, the access considerations are being scrutinised even more closely and then cut back or not done at all. Therefore, it is all well and good saying build these millions of buildings but then the developers look at where they can trim their costs. Once again access issues get overlooked and disabled people are again pushed to the sidelines. This is a clear issue which needs to be addressed and the Government must spell this out and if necessary the force of the DDA needs to be felt by the violators. Maybe this is a topic that the Equality & Human Rights Commission needs to look into.

Online Travel Companies

As you may see from my previous posts, I travel quite a bit for both work and leisure. One of the main sticking points when arranging my travel is the vast differences experienced with peoples' knowledge of access requirements. Most people readily understand that ramped access is a must but they do not look further than this. Reservation departments regularly say they have an accessible room but do not realise that wider doorways and handrails is not the be all and end all of access. On more than one occasion, I have had to explain the concept of a “roll-in” shower to then be met with a comment like “but we have handrails will they not do?” No they won’t do!

Added to the lack of access knowledge, there has also been the issue of finding hotels that are fully adapted for disabled travellers. Sourcing this information has always been encased in difficulties and many disabled people either choose not to travel or only use specific disability travel companies.

Bearing past issues, you can imagine my pleasure in learning that steps are being taken to improve things. In late January 2009, Expedia.com and Hotels.com announced a settlement in a case filed at the California Superior Court for Alameda County. As they are two of the world’s leading online travel companies, it is hoped that changes will be global and therefore benefit many here in the UK.

The settlement means that both companies will add features to their online travel reservation systems so that disabled travellers can use their online services to search for and reserve hotel rooms that have suitable accommodation.

“This settlement ushers in a new era in the online travel industry. A wheelchair user who reserves a hotel room online will no longer have to worry that she or he literally might not be able to enter the room after they arrive,” said Kevin Knestrick, an attorney with DRA, a non-profit law centre based in Berkeley, California that specializes in high-impact lawsuits on behalf of people with disabilities.

We can only hope that others operating within the Leisure and Tourism industry take note of this and imnplement the necessary action to improve their services in a likewise fashion.

Accessibility at High Profile Events

A truly memorable day in history took place yesterday so remember the date 20th January 2009 and before you ask it was not the announcement of the Brit Nominees.

President Barack Obama stood solemnly and took his oath during all the pomp and circumstance of his inauguration ceremony (even if he did stumble his words). In years to come people around the world will be asking “Where were you when Obama was sworn into office?”

Most of the seats were set aside for those deemed worthy i.e. VIPs including many diplomats but 5,000 were made available along the parade route at a cost of £16 and these were snapped up instantly. It is estimated that nigh on two million people without tickets crowded into Washington DC’s National Mall in order to say they were part of this historic event.

Before the event, the Inaugural Committee stated that they wanted to make this Inauguration the most accessible of all time and we have yet to hear confirmation that this was indeed the case.

With all events of this nature, it is sometimes hard to find that happy medium that suits everyone and accessibility more often than not takes a back seat.

Why?

It can sometimes be perceived as being more hassle but surely all groups of society should have adequate provision made so we can all enjoy such events be it a Royal Wedding, a winning sports team parade or just my visit to Craven Cottage every Saturday to see the mighty Fulham play!

So what measures need to be considered?

Many of the security measures and crowd control systems put into place for these events prevent disabled people from being fully included at an event. The most simple of changes can present huge barriers to the disabled. For example, road closures may mean that the most accessible and quickest step-free route is no longer available and therefore this impacts on walking distance and time. Overcrowding at transport links may mean these are far from accessible to mobility impaired travellers – I, myself, have written about this very thing (see blog entry 20th October 2008). Crowds can cause a sense of vulnerability or disorientation to many.

We have a moral duty to consider all options when planning these events and with a view to London 2012 we have the time to incorporate the knowledge that can be gained from many of the Disability Groups.

Time and time again we have seen contradictions by those involved with the planning of these events and this can be highlighted by comments made in Washington before yesterday’s event

Christian Kent, of the Washington Metro, advised people that "if they have any concern about being able to navigate or endure these conditions, they should avoid travelling into downtown Washington on these days". Only to be told by George Akembe of the District of Columbia Center for Independent Living - a wheelchair user - "if this is supposed to be the most accessible inauguration in history, why are they saying disabled people should stay home?

Surely high profile events, not just here in the UK but the world over, should have accessibility for all.

The Disability Equality Duty - does it work? (Part 2)

Well done – London borough of Hammersmith and Fulham
As you may recall from reading my previous blogs I am a Fulham football club fan (we are possibly the best team in the world) and usually after a football game, my friends and I would go out for a meal.
In the past, there have not been many accessible places to eat around the Fulham area. Although its quite a walk, we went to the new development at Chelsea village, I went there about a year ago and came across the usual barriers which prolong my journey quite significantly such as, “dropped kerbs”. By this, I mean, dropped kerbs that are no help to anyone, they should be flush with the road surface and not have a small step as large numbers of there dropped do.
Last week, I went along the same route which goes along Fulham road towards the New Kings road, practically the whole route had been re-paved incorporating proper dropped kerbs. which was a big surprise to me and in comparison to the last blog entry about the disability equality duty - this is a good example of when it does work.

My experimence of the No Limits 2008 show

I was travelling from Cheam, Surrey to No Limits show which was held at the Excel Centre in the Docklands. I used the train and tube to get to Canary Wharf on the way there. Then I went to Heron Quays DLR station. The lift to the platform was out of order, so it meant I had to travel the other direction one stop and then return. I did this, but the route between the platforms was terrible. There was no obvious or well signed route between the platform and the dropped curbs were blocked off due to road works. However the route between platforms is covered under DDA part 3, as tested in the Central Trains v Roads case. I then proceeded to Customs House DLR station and walked to the Excel Centre.
Overall the DLR, which is meant to be a state of the art, fully accessible railway, was not accessible at all, in my opinion.- for various reasons e.g. Lack of colour contrast, lift dimensions were too small, poor platform marking etc.
I think the DLR needs to take a good look at its access and make changes accordingly, as accessibility was achieved when it was built, however it should surely evolve with time.
The show itself was a disappointment. Mainly, due to the lack of disabled visitors. In my opinion, the reason for this was because of the poor location of the Excel centre, as it is not easy to get to.

My Danish Adventure

Whenever I have travelled within Europe, it has always proven difficult as there have been a lot of access barriers (not just the language).

From my research, Europe can be split into two broad areas; Northern -Scandinavia, Germany etc or Southern – France, Spain etc.

The research I have done showed that Northern Europe was very ahead in their thinking around disability and access so there should be very few barriers. Imagine my shock when on a recent visit to Copenhagen, I found this to be completely untrue!

It was the case that attitude, information and communication barriers had been eradicated. However, the physical barriers were very prevalent and very visible. In my experience suitable accommodation was very difficult to source.

When I arrived, as I had never visited before, I wanted to look around the city. The two main options were a tour bus or a river boat cruise. Both were inaccessible. Therefore, a third and far less appealing option had to be thought of and this was to do a “walk around” tour myself. It was impossible to see the whole city in a day - after all I am not Superman - and so we were only able to go and see a few of the sights. This presented me with a number of physical barriers such as poorly maintained pavements, ramp up a pavement and steps down the other side, seldom dropped kerbs etc.

My Auntie, who lives in Denmark, has put me in touch with someone who I can write a letter to within the Danish Government, to explain these issues and why Copenhagen does not reflect the perceived image that Scandinavia has relating to accessibility.

Visit to The British Library

Last Tuesday I was travelling to the British Library which is across the road from the new St Pancras International Station. After experiencing my poor level of service at St Pancras station, I proceeded to depart the station to walk over the road to the British Library. The pathways have been newly paved and all the dropped kerbs were in fact dropped kerbs i.e. completely flush with the road surface. They were also very wide and obstruction free. However, all the way through from the station there was a clear lack of visual contrast, as everything (paving, kerbs, railings etc), was a light grey colour and there was no differientation between the objects.

I then passed the front of the British Library (where there was a non-accessible entrance with steps) and I saw a sign with the wheelchair symbol telling me to go around the building. It was lucky it was not raining that day as the route was quite long and it was uncovered.

When I got into the British Library, there was a courtyard outside where there were some steps (which did not serve any purpose) but again there were no warnings at the top of these steps to alert you to the fact of their presence. From the point of view of a wheelchair user, these steps cannot be seen.

I then walked around the courtyard, again uncovered, to go into the entrance to the British Library. At which point, the security guards carried out their security checks but I was slightly concerned that as a disabled person, they just did their check without telling me what they were doing i.e. they seemed frightened to talk to me. Anyway, after this, I went up in the lift which did meet the required dimensions under the access regulations. However, it did seem rather small and maybe unuseable in some situations. I then went up in the lift to the Business and IP Centre in order to meet with Rachel Elnaugh who I was seeking business advice from. Her advice was extremely helpful and gave me a positive way forward. The only point I would make about the room I went to was that, again, the dimensions were all correct as per the access regulations but a sofa was positioned right by the turning circle so by using my wheelchair I found it difficult to manoeuvre in and out of the room. This is the type of barrier that staff need to be aware of within organisations such as the British Library i.e. that small steps of repositioning the sofa shows that they want to include disabled people within the services that they provide.