Most of all, accessibility requires providers to put the user first.
To determine in detail the factors that must be in place to allow
access, it is sometimes easier to consider the factors that can prevent
accessibility. Let us take a service such as shopping as an initial
example. We can only have access to a shop if we know it exists and if
we know enough about the goods it stocks to know if it is likely to have
the items we want (knowledge). If the shop offers an on-line home
delivery service we can only access the shop via that service if we know
it exists, we have a computer and we know the web address of the shop.
We must also have the money for the items we want to purchase and a
credit card or account with the shop (financial means).
If we wish to purchase our items by visiting the shop, we need the
mobility to reach the shop from wherever we happen to be. This mobility
will probably involve travel by a powered mode (automobile, bus, taxi,
train) plus a linking access stage on foot or in a wheelchair (ability).
The use of the powered mode will involve many factors such as car
availability, licence holding, availability of parking and fear of
driving in congested traffic for the car driver; availability of
service, knowledge of the services and timetable, and the fear of
waiting at a stop or station for the bus or train; cost and the fear of
unlicensed operators for the taxi. Many of these factors are already
considered by transport planners, along with the time and cost of
travelling, as relevant items when predicting the transport mode that
people will choose to use.
The pedestrian access link can be made difficult or impossible by
distance or gradient, by weather, by pavement conditions (particularly
for people with visual impairments or using a wheelchair), by lack of
street lighting or by fear in a dangerous part of town. Finally, for a
person in a wheelchair, access to the shop itself can be prevented by a
step, a door with a stiff spring, or insufficient space within the shop.
Once we are in the shop, access to the item we wish to purchase can be
prevented by an unhelpful shop assistant.
All of this makes the process of daily living sound an almost impossible
challenge, which must overstate the position for most of us. The point I
am trying to illustrate is that for one of the commonest activities of
daily life, many of the factors that can inhibit access have nothing to
do with the design of vehicles or the provision of ’accessible’
services, necessary as these are. It is also important to appreciate
that only one of the factors listed needs to be wrong to prevent access.
It is essential for the complete chain of information (knowledge), money
(financial means), confidence, accessible vehicle, appropriate
infrastructure (ability) and helpful staff to exist before access
becomes possible. In practise, lack of information of what services are
available may well be a more common barrier than the physical design of
vehicles or infrastructure.
Where there are barriers of any kind (knowledge, financial means,
ability), they can often be reduced or overcome by ’human’ means.
Advisory services, well trained and helpful staff in transport
companies, physical help to use otherwise inaccessible vehicles and
assistance with the cost of travel can provide access to technically
inaccessible systems or services. Disabled people travelling in lower
income countries report that readily available help often makes up for
physically inaccessible vehicles and infrastructure.
Accessibility means much more that making it possible to move about. It
is a fundamental requirement for an inclusive society. By taking the
trouble to discover what different people need to be able to participate
in an activity, and then providing those features, we are showing that
we treat everyone as equal and are determined that no one will be
excluded.