Your Letters - August 2010

Off the buses

I read with interest the article about accessible buses ("On the buses", Disability Now, July 2010). However, it's no good having accessible buses if they're not matched by accessible bus stops. Bus stops, especially in rural areas, are often sited in the middle of grass verges, which wheelchairs and those with limited mobility cannot get to easily. They may also be located next to dropped kerbs, which is also difficult.

As far as I know, there's no government requirement to upgrade such bus stops. In Gloucestershire, the county council, to its credit, is currently monitoring bus stops throughout the county, so it can prioritise which stops need upgrading and which are most used. I'd urge people to contact their own local authority to find out what they're doing and, if necessary, lobby their local MP to take this up with the relevant government department.

That said, it has to be realised that little-used stops will be the last to be upgraded and given the current financial climate, any improvement will probably be a long wait.
Ray Sherman, Cam, Dursley, Gloucs

Does reduced mobility make using public transport hard for you? Do you struggle to board tubes, buses or trains or are you forced to make complicated journeys to get to a "step-free" station? If so, the London Assembly Transport Committee would like to hear from you.

We're examining the experience of people with reduced mobility on the capital's transport network. This includes people in wheelchairs, older people, and people with children.

We're looking at how accessible the network is, from journey planning through to using each form of transport and interchanging between them.

We now have a website where you can share your views. The deadline for comments is 30 September.

For more information see: london.gov.uk/assembly/transport-access.

To contact us, email Ross Jardine at ross.jardine@london.gov.uk, or phone 020 7983 4206, or write to him at the London Assembly Transport Committee, Freepost LON15799, City Hall, The Queen's Walk, London, SE1 2BR.
Val Shawcross AM, Chair, London Assembly Transport Committee

On a recent trip to North­allerton, my nearest town, I decided to go by bus. I use a mobility scooter and was rather put out when the bus driver said "you can't come on here with that."

After a bit of "discussion", he finally backed down, but not before a passenger objected to the scooter's having a petrol engine. In fact it has an electric battery!

It's worth mentioning that we live on the edge of a rural area, with five buses each day in each direction.

After this experience, I'm reticent about using the bus again. I rang Hambleton District Council and was told that it's up to the driver's discretion. In other words, if one driver agrees to take me to Northallerton, I could end up stranded if another driver refuses to bring me back.
Michael Peake, Hutton Rudby, Yorkshire

After reading the article about buses, I made a few phone calls and found that wheelchair-users don't use buses here in Suther­land, Britain's largest county.

One bus company said it would rent me a bus with wheelchair access, (the whole bus just for me!); the other asked me to phone them when I wanted to go shopping. If they had a bus in the area, and going in the right direction, they'd tell me. Getting back home was another matter, however: it could be days!

So here it's a simple case of: No Car. No Shopping.

It would also appear, I gather from some disabled people, that the buses are designed with high steps that are likely to defeat anyone on crutches, or even using walking sticks. One chap had to be lifted up, step by step, by other passengers to get on a bus.
R. Naylon, Sutherland Access Panel
Eurogrind@aol.com
sutherlandaccesspanel.org.uk

I can't drive at the moment, so I got a bus pass and called the bus company to ask about accessible buses. I was told what bus to get but advised to phone on the day I wanted to travel.

I did so but when I went to the bus stop, the first bus to come wasn't easy access, so I waited for the next one. Same again. I had to let four buses go by before an easy-access one came, but when the driver tried to pull open the ramp, it was screwed down. The driver was sorry but I was very upset. It's time public transport was made more accessible.
Kathleen Mitchinson, by email

Under the RADAR

Comments on RADAR's work on supported employment ("Fear of coalition cuts heads TUC agenda", Disability Now, 15 June 2010) do not give a full picture of the issues.

RADAR supports the comments made at the TUC disability conference that disabled workers could be particularly at risk from public sector cuts. We need to be vigilant in tracking whether this is happening and RADAR will speak out if disabled people are found to be suffering job loss disproportionately.

We also need to work together to ensure strong implementation of the Equality Act. RADAR worked closely with Baroness Jane Campbell and others to achieve significant amendments to the legislation as it went through Parliament (more significant on disability than in other areas), including the prohibition of pre-employment health questions. We will be working with partners to do everything we can to ensure effective implementation.

As the Government designs its new employment programme and looks at the future of programmes like Work Choice and Access to Work, RADAR believes it's crucial that it's informed by what disabled people want from employment and the support that goes with it.

RADAR is therefore carrying out a study of what disabled people want and what helps to deliver it. This is not a feasibility study (as stated in your article) but a study of what we know from consultations, research and interviews with disabled people. For example: disabled people consistently say they want decent pay a living wage or at least the minimum wage yet some are paid below that. Our work looks at ways to turn things round on that issue, and on others.

The result of this study will be a discussion document to start a debate and inform policy development, not recommendations set in stone. We have talked with trade unionists, disability leaders, academics, service providers, disabled people and more. We encourage everyone to join the debate as it develops.
Liz Sayce OBE, Chief Executive, RADAR

Where's the pride?

The pronouncements on benefits by Iain Duncan Smith, the new Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, have brought up all the usual misconceptions about disability.

I've been listening to LBC and reading the Daily Mail and people just don't understand the barriers there are to work. People say to me: "You don't look disabled." Or: "Other people are disabled and they work."

They don't understand the struggle to get access to hairdressers, shops and transport, never mind access to the support needed to work. We need a stronger, more confident voice to educate people about disability.

Disability Now is great but it isn't mainstream. I read it in a public library but it's hard to get it anywhere else. Disability Now needs to be mainstream and we need a TV programme like See Hear. Look at how the gay community and people with mental health conditions have successfully lobbied against prejudice. We need a disability pride movement.
Nicola Prev, by phone