[access-uk] Re: Braille #Trails for Blind Brits

  • From: paul leake <paul.leake@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Fri, 20 Sep 2013 23:12:06 +0100

Thanks Carol, I saw it en list earlier. How are you? We must chat soon.


Cheers

Paul
Twitter: @paulleake1

paul.leake@xxxxxxxxxxxx

----- Original Message -----
From: Carol Pearson <carol.pearson29@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To: "access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>,Mike Pearson <mike.pearson29@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Date sent: Fri, 20 Sep 2013 22:40:37 +0100
Subject: [access-uk] Re: Braille #Trails for Blind Brits

This may be of interest to you

Carol P
Sent from my iPhone using MBraille

On 20 Sep 2013, at 03:17 pm, "Peter Beasley" <pjbeasley23@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I wonder what peoples opinions on this list are regarding what I am posting below which I received from another list? I am just beginning to realise how backward the UK is in access for blind people. Whilst our streetscape designers are busy upgrading our town centres so they are accessible only to people with reasonable eyesight, ,many other countries are providing "Braille Trails" to assist
blind people to move quickly around their towns.

Although they are used in other countries Braille Trails seem to be virtually unknown in the UK and consist basically of guidance grooves running along footways just deep enough to accommodate the roller or tip of a long cane, which can then guide long cane users along a clear path
which safely avoids obstacles.

I have found that some blind Brits do not like change, so I expect to be told that this is an old idea that was thrown out years ago and that
long canes are not intended to be used in this way.

Nevertheless, below is a report from Dick Groves, a mnow blind ex Police Indspector from Bromley who has sampled Braille Trails in America, Australia, Asia and Europe, and JPG pictures are also available for
those who have some sight.

Dear David,

We spoke last week regarding the above subject. Thank you for your papers, I found them most interesting. I noted your use of the term, 'No Go Area', as I have headed my local campaign, 'No Go Bromley'. I won a round yesterday with the reinstatement of vcrossing cones and
audibles that had been removed by Transport For London, without
consultation.  But it does take time and energy.

I have attached photographs of the Brisbane Braille Trail, a safe route designed for vips using pedestrianised and shared space areas. These
photos were taken about five years ago and are still relevant.  I
revisited Brisbane last year and have the latest information but my earlier photos and paper explain the innovations sufficiently well. Since that visit I have seen similar trails in Basle, Zurich, Dubai and particularly extensive usage in Hong Kong. Friends tell me that Athens,
Tokyo and South Korea also have similar trails .

As I said when we talked, the key to change is to prosecute.  I
specifically asked in Brisbane and San Francisco as to how vips managed to convince the local authorities to take our needs seriously, the reply was the same in both cities: a prosecution led to adverse publicity for the authority. Both city councils then invoked the full process of beurocracy and set up internal departments, grievance procedures etc.
Maybe a little heavy, but effective.  I believe that we have the
equality legislation here but it is only used to chase up a few Chinese restaurants. Hit a major service provider and our world would change.


Brisbane Shopping Mall Braille Trail
by Dick Groves


When in Brisbane recently I spent a morning with Doctor John McPherson, the city's disabled access officer and his assistant Koda-Jo. You can imagine how we got on when I discovered that she was originally from Lewisham and had worked in Bromley. They showed me the safe route that has been laid out in the city centre for the visually impaired. Imagine a simple ribbed route set into the pavement, avoiding all obstacles. The trail leads to the main shops and services such as the library, post office, public transport and road crossings. All I had to do was to put
my white stick down and follow the trail.  It has marked tactile
junctions and protected kerbs. There are contrasting colour signboards in both Braille and raised lettering. The trail links with safe road crossings that have a special homing bleep for blind users. The same concern and attention to detail has been applied to public transport. A bus pulled up directly alongside the tactile indicator for the bus stop and the driver offered to lower the hydrolic platform that allows for wheelchair access. Doctor John, my guide, is a wheelchair user. The City Council really puts its equality employment policies into practice. Elsewhere I saw escalators with contrasting coloured tactile markers and was told that shopping malls are increasingly putting down these Braille trails. In Sydney I saw blister pavement on a road crossing that had a cat's eye effect at night and a machine gun like sound when I
ran my white stick over it.


Brisbane airport has a team of volunteer guides for disabled and other special needs travelers and of course, the airport has its own tactile
Braille trail, leading from all parts to the terminal building.

Doctor McPherson has supplied me with reports on the development of the trail, the national regulations respecting such matters and details of
expert consultants specializing in such innovations.
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