Disabled people make 30 percent fewer journeys, according to Accessible Transport Survey

Transport for All (TfA) is launching the first annual Accessible Transport Survey. The new project is a chance for all deaf and disabled people in England to have their say about transport, streets, barriers faced, and to help shape the direction of further campaigns to fight for a more accessible future.

According to TfA, disabled people make 30 percent fewer journeys a year than non-disabled people, spend more time and money travelling, and have to tackle discrimination, indignity, and danger whenever leaving their homes, which has a knock-on effect on peoples’ lives.

Barriers to transport mean barriers to work, barriers to education, barriers to days out, holidays, hospitals and more, current measures are not doing enough to tackle these issues. TfA believes that this is, in part, because decision makers are not looking in the right places.

There are considerable gaps in the research into disabled peoples’ experiences of transport. Many existing studies are overly generalised, and are missing crucial detail about the specific barriers that the transport system poses. The research is rooted in the social model of disability, an understanding that the problems exist in the environment, not in the person.

TfA wants to hear about disabled peoples’ end-to-end journeys, the barriers faced, what works well, what people want to see change, and how England move towards a future where disabled people can get from A to B with as much spontaneity, freedom, and independence as everyone else. It is only by finding out the reality of disabled people’s lived experience that it can be organised effectively to bring about change where people most need it, in order to do this, TfA hopes that as many disabled people take the survey as possible.

Disabled adults living in England can take the survey by Friday the 21 October, which takes around 40 minutes. Participants will have the opportunity to win a £100 shopping voucher when entering the prize draw.

Visit the Transport for All website to download a press pack including a printable leaflet, graphics for sharing online, and copy to include in a newsletter or email.

Recently, Transport for Ireland (TFI) and Invisible Disability Ireland launched ‘Please Offer Me a Seat’ badges and cards to help ensure that people with hidden disabilities are eligible for a seat in priority areas on public transport.