6. CONCLUDING REMARKS
A system is accessible to a particular group of impaired people if, by
design and operating procedures, it can be used by those people without
requiring them to do anything that their impairment makes impossible. It
is up to the system designer and operator to identify the functions that
are made impossible by the impairments of particular user groups, and
from the start design the system to avoid the need to perform those
functions.
Access is limited by much more than the physical design of a system.
Lack of information, lack of money and lack of confidence can all
inhibit access. The complete chain of information, confidence, money, an
accessible vehicle and accessible infrastructure is necessary before a
journey can be made. Failure of any one link of that chain makes the
whole journey impossible. And the journey is only desired if the
destination is accessible and provides an activity sought by the
traveller.
We are all impaired in some way or other. Designing systems to be
accessible means designing them to be easy to use for as wide a spectrum
of people as possible. Even though some people’s impairments probably
mean that the use of mass transport systems will always be beyond them,
the better the design of a system, the wider the spectrum of the
population it can serve and the easier and safer it is for all its
users.
Accessibility is a fundamental requirement for an inclusive society. By
providing the policies, features and operating procedures that avoid
requiring passengers to perform some action that is impossible for them
we are showing that we treat everyone as equal and are determined that
no one will be excluded.