Welcome to the 8 Questions, where we ask senior figures in the sector the questions every business leader and ambitious professional wants answered. In this edition, Ann Frye, International specialist on the transport needs of disabled and older people and author of the CIHT Learn 'Understanding Disability' course is asked about her career in transport, the process of writing the course and what she hopes users will gain from completing the course.
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Like many people, my career path was dictated largely by chance and circumstance.
After graduating from London University in modern languages , I joined the Civil Service Fast Stream and was posted to what is now the Department for Transport. At the same time, I was a volunteer every weekend in a youth Club in North London that brought together children with and without disabilities. I quickly realised that the disabled children had no independence or mobility beyond the school bus that picked them up during the week and the lift equipped minibus I drove to pick them up on a Saturday.
I started talking to my then boss in the Department – the Permanent Secretary -about the mobility needs of disabled people. He suggested that I set up a small Unit (initially just me) to look at all the transport issues that affect the lives of disabled people. From that small start the Mobility & Inclusion Unit grew to over 40 staff including engineers, planners and occupational therapists as well as policy makers and we covered every form of transport from the pedestrian environment to aviation – as well as personal mobility through cars and driving. That meant that every transport policy or development had an accessibility focus.
We were much involved in taking through both the rights legislation on disability and the technical regulations on transport accessibility – all based on research and engagement with disabled people. Our remit ranged across European and wider international work as well as our UK focus.
In 2006 I left the Department to set up my own (one woman) business in the same field. I now work with both public and private sector bodies – and the voluntary sector – giving advice and guidance on a wide range of accessibility issues.
Recent work has involved developing guidelines on accessibility for low-income countries in Africa and Southeast Asia, advising the Commonwealth Games transport provider on accessibility requirements and advising a European project developing guidance on making travel apps accessible. I am currently also the Government’s Disability & Access Ambassador for Airports and I chair the Gatwick Independent Accessibility Forum.
I very much enjoy working at an international level – both in terms of learning from each other and trying to achieve consensus - but also in terms of helping those countries only now addressing accessibility for the first time to make good and cost-effective progress by building on what has been learnt in the UK and elsewhere without having to make the same mistakes along the way!
The greatest satisfaction in all my work is feeling that I can make a difference to the way that transport is perceived or delivered so that more people can regain or retain their independence.
There are still too many transport professionals, in every discipline, who have no understanding of - or training in – inclusive design and the needs of older and disabled people. As a result, pedestrian infrastructure and much else besides is routinely introduced with barriers that exclude many people.
Just to give an example – Floating Bus Stops where a pedestrian has to cross a cycle lane to reach a bus stop. As one blind person commented, this concept: “places the moral and practical burden of responsibility onto the pedestrian who is least equipped to protect him/herself in this particular situation. “
That is just one example – there are many others – in which the needs of one group of people – in that case cyclists is given priority over others for whom there is no choice.
And we know that once an older person or someone with a disability has lost the confidence to go out independently, it is very difficult to regain that confidence and there is often a rapid decline in physical and mental health and wellbeing.
It is really important that anyone coming into the transport world as a professional has a full understanding of inclusive design and accessibility issues from the earliest possible stage of their career so that they don’t perpetuate the mistakes of previous generations.
Too often once design faults have been made, they remain in place, sometimes for many years and those affected by them – predominantly older and disabled people are often those least able to make their voices heard. They may not be able to respond to online consultations or attend planning meetings – and once a development is in place, they will no longer be out on the street to be interviewed in the post implementation surveys – they have simply been displaced at huge personal and social cost. Some of the early Shared Space schemes are a case in point.
My main aim was to explain why inclusive design is so important and what the consequences are of failing to understand it.
I also wanted to give some practical examples of good and bad practice to illustrate why mistakes can be so damaging – and conversely what a difference it makes if you think about what works for everyone and you aim for designs and schemes that are both inclusive and intuitive.
If we don’t include these topics in training, we risk creating yet more generations of transport professionals who do not have the understanding or knowledge to create environments in which everyone can move with confidence and in safety.
My main hope is that transport professionals take these issues on board – not as an optional extra – but as a key part of their learning and professional development and that they carry those principles with them on a daily basis throughout their careers.
Crucially I would say:
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the CIHT or its members. Neither the CIHT nor any person acting on their behalf may be held responsible for the use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Join other savvy professionals just like you at CIHT. We are committed to fulfilling your professional development needs throughout your career