AccessWorking Group including sensory disability and transport
This working group meets regularly to discuss the many and various needs of disabled people to achieve a fully inclusive city. NDF acknowledges, with thanks, the attendance and support of Newcastle City Council officers who do much to realise solutions, particularly on our highways and in buildings.
Many city wide highway maintenance and upgrade schemes are referred including the dropped kerb programme, traffic signals upgrade and accessible road crossing points; an extensive range of other projects aimed at dealing with environmental hazards encountered by disabled people e.g. wheeled bins, bollards, street furniture, parking on pavements and overhanging trees.
Request are received from hospitals, entertainment centres and city council highway officers when, NDF members frequently provide their advice and observations in respect of the application of statutes and current established good practice to promote inclusion for disabled people. Examples include safe surfaces and gradients, pedestrian crossings, street furniture, environmental and street hazards, landscaping, building accessibility and facilities, signage, illumination, colour proposals, electronic applications and the services provided by staff in various authorities and organisations.
The group pursues topics of sensory disability like availability of services and access issues affecting hard of hearing, deaf and visually impaired people.
NDF recognises that those with speech impairment are very much excluded from provision that other people take for granted. Following a feasibility study provided by Newcastle City Council some four years ago, NDF completed bids for funding to be available to raise awareness and help to support people with impaired or without speech. However, the Big Lottery, the Welcome Foundation and the Northern Rock Foundation have all rejected these bids. We will continue to look at funders to try and get speech on everybody's agenda.
Transport concerns are funnel via our representation on the Transport for All Nexus group for the development of policies and access to transport service principles. Recently the Chair of NDF has been chairing the Scooter Training Group, a sub group of Transport for All.
Meanwhile Forum members
continue to investigate and bring to the groups attention problems regarding:-
" Bus access difficulties, progress with new high kerb bus stops, low floor
buses, inaccessible travel information in the many PTA un-staffed interchanges
and on the Metro and bus drivers' disability awareness
" Access consultations about new and redeveloped transport infrastructure
" Links have continued with Nexus
" Taxi Driver Disability-Awareness Training has continued throughout the
year, in collaboration with Disability North and Newcastle City Council.
The REACT project for sight-impaired
people (and potentially in the future non-English reading people), provides
audible location and directions within the city centre from loud speaker signposts
which are activated automatically by personal fobs. This pilot project arose
from NDF's 2002 Pathways Hazards report (www.ndf.org.uk/pathways/), which included
a summary item on the need for inclusive pedestrian way finding.
The route was authorised, financed by the City Council, the Public Transport
Authority and the Royal Victoria Hospital, for some 40 units in the city centre
and 2 underground Metro stations.
The facility was officially launched with local and national publicity by the
City Council in March 2009 and is available for any visually impaired person,
living in or who studies or works in the city and would benefit from this audible
location system.
NDF has published a comprehensive guidance document on access issues for sensory-impaired people in response to a request from Newcastle City Planning Department, which compiles established guidance to make public buildings and their environments accessible within the spirit of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995. It is intended for Planners, Architects, Designers, Building Managers and Education Professionals. The 35 page document can be downloaded from this NDF web site
NDF has also published a comprehensive report document on pathway hazards in Newcastle with suggested improvements. The City council are making progressive steps to implement solutions. This is also available from this NDF web site