If you travel on the UK’s railway system, you will spot yellow wheelchair ramps on many train platforms. Announcements on buses and trains also go some way to meeting the needs of blind and visually impaired travellers.
These days we take such measures for granted; they are just a part of the general move to make it easier for people with physical disabilities to live as ‘normal’ a life as possible. Where, though, are the measures to make journeys easier for what a recent report from the OECD’s International Transport Forum (ITF) describes as people “with cognitive impairment and those with mental health problems”?
ITF’s report, 'Cognitive Impairment, Mental Health and Transport', suggests that transport systems show little regard for this segment of the travelling public. The brief, 32-page, report says that this is not a minority problem. “Cognitive impairment affects a large and growing number of people and encompasses a wide range of conditions from autism to age-related dementia and stroke.”
How can we make public transport more accessible for people with cognitive impairment or with mental health problems? The challenges are not physical but “difficulty in coping with a fast-moving and constantly-changing environment. Using public transport involves processing information quickly and taking decisions based on that information.”
The report has a long list of problems that face these travellers. To pick just a few, they include: getting one’s bearings; tiring easily; being unable to concentrate or remain vigilant; becoming stressed as a result of hurrying/coping with deadlines; remembering information; and dealing with unexpected or stressful situations.
Can anyone honestly claim that they have not experienced one or more of these? But, as the report says, “the impact on someone with a cognitive impairment or with a mental health problem will be much greater and may deter them from attempting to use public transport again.”
Some of the practical steps that the report offers, such as “travel awareness training,” may be specific to the circumstances of people with a learning disability. Other measures can benefit everyone.
Take the need to provide audible and visual information in parallel. Disability discrimination laws in some countries may mandate the provision of information in both audible and visual forms, but “the norm in many places is still to give either visual information (for example regarding train departures) or audible information (for example, announcing from which platform a train will depart)”.
Information also needs to be simple and clear and “should be restricted to what is essential to enable people to find the right platform/departure gate/vehicle, and to be aware of any changes to that information.” Here too, everyone benefits from this.
Decent maps and signs are also important. Have you ever tried to work out where to catch a bus from Victoria Station in London? It is bewildering even for someone with many years’ experience. As the report points out, too many signs in a rail or bus interchange just add to confusion and anxiety. Signs need to be kept to a minimum in order to be clear and unambiguous.
The document describes role models of places that have tried ideas that work. These include attention to the design and layout of transport interchanges, for example. Another suggestion involves “training front-line staff to recognise, assist people and to show empathy”.
There are plenty of other ideas that, if implemented, could do much to make travel easier for everyone.
Further information:
http://www.internationaltransportforum.org/Pub/new.html
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