It is a subject close to my heart as a big part of my job that I like to do well is assisted travel (I work as a train conductor). I thought I would post my musings as the issue was raised in another thread. They're not very structured but I thought it would be a good starting point to identify some possible problems, barriers and solutions to the issue of people with disabilities travelling as lock down eases - whether that is concerns caused by the virus itself, staff anxiety or unintended side consequences of measures like reduced capacity or introduction of rerouted one way systems meaning people who would ordinarily travel perfectly well independently find they struggle.
There are plenty of issues when you dig deep into it. A lot of visually impaired passengers I know have their own mental maps and these will be severely disrupted by things like the one way system. They may also struggle to negotiate the provisions on board trains. A lot of staff are rightly or wrongly extremely reticent to provide passenger assistance at the moment as they don't want to be in direct personal contact with anyone else.
Is travelling somewhere by train because you want a different range of leisure locations to exercise really essential travel even if you can't drive, whether it's due to poor vision or just not having a licence?
It is a fine tightrope to walk at the moment and I imagine the railway is technically on the wrong side of the law as with other industries.
We are still, albeit perhaps reluctantly at an individual level, providing passenger assistance services to people for things like trips to hospitals and shopping.
Personally I've tried to approach this in a common sense way - if someone needs personal contact I wear a short sleeved shirt so I can make skin to skin contact rather than clothes so it can easily be washed later. I ask the person involved to stay away from me where possible and only get close when I have to. I wear a fresh pair of gloves and throw them away immediately afterwards. I will still help people who need it.
Ultimately if someone is making a leisure journey to exercise personally I wouldn't dream of stopping them but I would expect them to provide their own sighted guide if that was what was required to allow them to travel safely rather than getting the railway's staff involved.
The way the railway is being run at the moment will cause problems for people with disabilities, there is no question about it, and it needs to be approached in a sensitive manner both to keep the railway and it's users safe and make it accessible where necessary.
It's something I've been pondering today while working in a face mask - I'm painfully aware that normally I do a lot of smiling to put people at ease and also allow them to lip read if necessary and this isn't possible.
There are plenty of issues when you dig deep into it. A lot of visually impaired passengers I know have their own mental maps and these will be severely disrupted by things like the one way system. They may also struggle to negotiate the provisions on board trains. A lot of staff are rightly or wrongly extremely reticent to provide passenger assistance at the moment as they don't want to be in direct personal contact with anyone else.
Is travelling somewhere by train because you want a different range of leisure locations to exercise really essential travel even if you can't drive, whether it's due to poor vision or just not having a licence?
It is a fine tightrope to walk at the moment and I imagine the railway is technically on the wrong side of the law as with other industries.
We are still, albeit perhaps reluctantly at an individual level, providing passenger assistance services to people for things like trips to hospitals and shopping.
Personally I've tried to approach this in a common sense way - if someone needs personal contact I wear a short sleeved shirt so I can make skin to skin contact rather than clothes so it can easily be washed later. I ask the person involved to stay away from me where possible and only get close when I have to. I wear a fresh pair of gloves and throw them away immediately afterwards. I will still help people who need it.
Ultimately if someone is making a leisure journey to exercise personally I wouldn't dream of stopping them but I would expect them to provide their own sighted guide if that was what was required to allow them to travel safely rather than getting the railway's staff involved.
The way the railway is being run at the moment will cause problems for people with disabilities, there is no question about it, and it needs to be approached in a sensitive manner both to keep the railway and it's users safe and make it accessible where necessary.
It's something I've been pondering today while working in a face mask - I'm painfully aware that normally I do a lot of smiling to put people at ease and also allow them to lip read if necessary and this isn't possible.