Transportation holds a very important place in the lives of disabled people. We need to know which problems do people with various groups of impairment face before listing suggestions for accessibility.
In this article, we will talk about the problems people with disabilities have with transportation, and then we will talk about suggestions for solutions to these problems.
Which problems do blind and visually impaired people have with transportation?
While crossing the road, blind and visually impaired people might not understand whether the traffic lights are red or green, and often they might not know when to cross the road.
Blind and visually impaired people might not know which stop the vehicle has arrived in public transport (bus, tram, Metrobus).
As for everyone, parked cars on pavements make a big problem for blind and visually impaired people, because cars impede navigation and after passing the car on the pavement in some way, the person might stray from his/her path instead of continuing straight. This causes confusion for the person.
How to resolve these problems that blind or visually impaired people have with transportation?
To facilitate easier crossing on the road for blind or visually impaired people, systems called audio lights, which audibly indicate whether the lights are green or red are available. Using these systems in more places enhances the experience while crossing the road for blind and visually impaired people.
In public transport vehicles, audio systems besides the visual screens which announce which stop the vehicles are available. Integration of these audio systems into more vehicles will help blind and visually impaired people know which stop they are at in public transport vehicles and make their life easier.
About the cars parked on the pavements: Fining of drivers which park on the pavements, increasing the number of parking lots and especially in bigger cities, the regulation of road construction in accordance with the increasing population can help in resolving this problem. This way, not only blind and visually impaired people, but everyone can walk on the pavements with peace of mind.
The dissemination of signs in braille will be great ease for blind and visually impaired people.
Now, it’s time to talk about the problems in transportation of people who are in another disability group.
Which problems do people with orthopaedical impairments have with transport?
In busses, there are ramps for people with orthopaedical impairments for them to get on. However, as these ramps can’t be extended or retracted automatically, if there is no one to help on the bus, then the ramp can’t be extended and the orthopedically impaired person cannot get onto the bus.
The cars parked on the pavement make big problems for orthopedically impaired people as well. Cars parked on the pavement impair the movement of the wheelchairs of disabled people.
So, what can be the suggestions for the problems of orthopedically impaired people?
Making the ramps in the busses automatic will be useful both for the disabled person and for all who are in the vehicle.
This way, the orthopedically impaired person can get on and get off the vehicle with his/her wheelchair and both the driver and passengers will save time.
Another group of disabilities that are encountered as often as visual and orthopaedical impairment is hearing impairment. There are problems in transportation for hearing impaired people as well.
So, which problems do hearing-impaired people have with transportation?
For the orientation of the hearing-impaired person, visual queues should be placed where there is a sound focused system. Even though in transportation, hearing impaired people can take their place as as drivers, they have a range of problems with their experience.
As hearing-impaired people cannot hear, they might miss out on especially the flight announcements in airports and other audio announcements in airplanes.
What could be the solutions to problems which hearing-impaired people have in transportation?
The audio announcements which are made in airports and airplanes could be relayed to the hearing- an impaired person with writing and/or sign language. This way, the hearing-impaired person also knows what is going on and he/she can decide on what to do easier.
Finally, we will talk about the autism disability group.
Which problems do people with autism have with transportation?
Because people with autism experience senses differently than other people, they might have issues with too much noise and a crowded environment in public transport vehicles.
People with autism are usually very dependent on their routines. Any changes in their routines might make them uneasy.
On a holiday, if the places for sightseeing are very crowded, noisy or illuminated too much, these might make the person uneasy as well.
What can be suggestions for the problems which people with autism have?
While traveling on public transport, if the person is disturbed by the crowd or from the noise, he/she can bring a book or a food to occupy and make oneself comfortable.
Any changes done to the routine should be told to the person one week or one month in advance, depending on the extent of the change. Pictures of the places could be shown or things to do could be told to the person earlier. This way, the person can include the activity in his/her routine, and he/she doesn’t feel uneasy.
On a trip, if a person gets disturbed by the crowd or from too much noise, before these places are visited, breaks between one hour and one day could be given depending on the person’s needs, and then these places could be visited later. This way, the person can prepare for the experience.
In this article, we talked about what problems people with various disabilities have especially in the field of transportation and travel, and what could be suggestions for resolving these problems. But in the continuation of the article, it is possible to see that solutions are available to these problems. It can be said that people with disabilities are actually blocked individuals.
As BlindLook, we realize our accessibility world dream by creating a world where blind and visually impaired people are not blocked. We have a dream that we wish to make come true, and that is a world where everyone is equal and which accessible to everyone. As a doorway to accessibility for blind and visually impaired people, we are continuing to expand this dream and we are continuing to work to create awareness for other disability groups.
Author: Fatih Yüksek / BlindLook Team
