E-Scooters ‘Not Safe’ Without Audible Signals

Yes, audible on e-scooters would be good, but more imoertant is the attitude of the person with the e-scooter for pedestrians.

I say this for my experience of persons on bycylces, some have bells but mainly it is their vocal out bursts. For those I have come across feel they have the right of way be it road or pavement. When I wish to cross a road, I will use a crossing when there is one, but in many instances there are not so I have to cross the road. Now in my 70s I am not as nimble on foot as I used to be and cross where I see the road is clear. But my slownest of step does on some occasions mean traffic may come while I am still crossing, Cars extra will slow down and allow me to cross rather than peeing their car horns, scaring me.

But not so with the cyclists I experience, they do not slow down, they shout very loudly and angrily for me to get out of their way, rather than excepting my slowness of mobility.

You could nargue that they have the right of way on the road and you may be correct, but if they do not show consideration people will get hurt.

But on the pavement, surely the pedestrian have the right of way and I nhave experienced on many occasions, more so han on the road with cyclists shouting and ringing bells, and many occasions when they have not done so, but pass me at speed very close to me, the first I know is when they go flying past.

As yet I have to experience my first encounter, maybe that due to COVID I have not been out for more than a year.

So while bells will be good on e-scooters it is the attitude to other users of the same space, which I feel is way more important.

Same Difference

A visually impaired woman from London says e-scooters are not safe enough to be used across the city as they do not have audible signals.

The signals, which alert pedestrians to the silent e-scooters, will not be installed for at least two months.

Transport for London (TfL) said in May the e-scooters would have audible warning systems that could be used without riders adjusting their grip.

It now says that all e-scooters on the rental scheme are fitted with bells.

The RNIB (Royal National Institute of Blind People) said e-scooters posed potential risks to blind and partially sighted people because “they are fast-moving, difficult to detect, and are often ridden on the pavement despite this being illegal”.

London’s walking and cycling commissioner, Will Norman, said the trial could not be stopped to fit them.

He said: “We can’t stop the trial before everything is brought in because we need to continue…

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Anger as wheelchair users left unable to ride trains on major route | Govt Newspeak

TransPennine Express accused of ripping up disability discrimination legislation

Wheelchair users will not be allowed to travel on a third of trains on a major route in northern England this summer following the temporary reintroduction of 45-year-old carriages.

The main rail workers’ union accused TransPennine Express (TPE) of flouting disability discrimination legislation and in effect operating a heritage railway by bringing back into service Mark 3 trains that were built in the 1970s for British Rail.

Documents leaked to the Disability News Service show that wheelchairs will not be able to travel on 12 of the 34 hourly services to and from Liverpool and Scarborough via Manchester Victoria, Huddersfield, Leeds and York.

The documents say there will be “no space on the train for wheelchairs” and that “the trains will run without wheelchair or cycle provision”.

 

Source: Anger as wheelchair users left unable to ride trains on major route | Govt Newspeak

Motability faces calls to increase grants or cut prices after MPs’ fierce criticism

Ikea tells disabled shopper to pay £10 for help | Daily Mail Online

Olivia Cole, 23 (pictured with mum Caroline) was told she would have to pay for someone to bring her hinges at the IKEA in Warrington – even though her condition means she cannot walk far.

Source: Ikea tells disabled shopper to pay £10 for help | Daily Mail Online

Learning to drive: Finding freedom from disability | DisabledGo News and Blog

I was born with severe talipes of the right foot. Put simply, I have a club foot with no Achilles tendon and zero movement in my ankle. No tendons mean my calf muscle is wasted and I have to walk on my toes. After numerous treatments and operations during my early childhood, my foot had been shaped enough to wear a shoe, but I was told I would not be a footballer and driving was unlikely. Shortly after that, football became my defiant passion. When you see a person walking down the road with a wheelchair or walking stick, you have an immediate recognition of their disability or injury. With a club foot, it can be hard to tell. A slight limp doesn’t convey the extent of the issue to the untrained eye. Many of the people I have met in my life know I have a club foot but are never aware of the extent of it. As a child, sports lessons embodied this. If I had to pull out of a 1500m race, or leave everyone waiting as I hobbled over the line in last place, I felt I was failing to keep up and

Source: Learning to drive: Finding freedom from disability | DisabledGo News and Blog

Cockroft’s fear of PIP reassessment and losing independence as she heads for Rio | DisabledGo News and Blog

One of Britain’s biggest stars from the London 2012 Paralympics has said she is “scared” that she will lose her independence when she is reassessed for the government’s new disability benefit. Wheelchair racer Hannah Cockroft has yet to be assessed for personal independence payment  (PIP), which was launched by the government the year after London 2012 with the aim of cutting spending on working-age disability living allowance (DLA) by 20 per cent. Cockroft, who won two track gold medals at London 2012 and is going for three in Rio, told Disability News Service (DNS) that she dreads the reassessment, the possibility of having her support cut, and potentially losing the car she leases through the Motability scheme as a claimant of the higher rate mobility component of DLA. She said: “I haven’t yet been hit by PIP, I haven’t been called up for my assessment, but honestly, it scares me. “If I don’t have my car I will lose everything, I will lose my independence. “I know people will say,

Source: Cockroft’s fear of PIP reassessment and losing independence as she heads for Rio | DisabledGo News and Blog

A Web for All: Accessibility and Inclusive Design

Accessibility allow everyone to have access to information and services. The goal is to provide those with disabilities the same opportunities as their normative counterparts. This article explores how accessibility does not have to be a painful, after the fact initiative, if products are designed with accessibility at the start using inclusive design.

Source: A Web for All: Accessibility and Inclusive Design

An office full of nurses and no antiseptic wipe

scottish unemployed workers' network

Yesterday I accompanied someone to his Work Capability Assessment. Let’s call him Jack. Jack had one of those lists of ailments that spill off the form onto further pieces of paper, and quite clearly should never have been called in at all. And he already had serious mobility problems before having a toe amputated four days earlier. He arrived by taxi with his mother and had to walk slowly, leaning on a stick and steadying himself on her arm. Although there is parking in front of the assessment centre, this is only for the people who work in the building and it is protected by a barrier. The taxi had to stop the other side of the barrier, and Jack had to make his way slowly across the parking area. To someone in good health, the distance from barrier to door, across the outer lobby and down the corridor might…

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How one man’s trip to Toys ‘R’ Us brought mobility to hundreds of disabled kids | DisabledGo News and Blog

Cole Galloway’s workspace at the University of Delaware resembles a ransacked toy store. There are piles of plastic tubing, swim noodles, stuffed animals, and

Source: How one man’s trip to Toys ‘R’ Us brought mobility to hundreds of disabled kids | DisabledGo News and Blog

Macclesfield’s Grosvenor Shopping Centre Has Banned Customers In Wheelchairs And Mobility Scooters

As this appears to be a Health and Safety issue, then the centre should be closed until further notice. Mobility is not only a factor with wheelchairs as there are many other other aspects of mobility, this is discrimination to selective groups of the community.

Same Difference

This is unbelievable. It is blatant disability discrimination. Turn the lifts off if you have to but make other access arrangements or adjustments. There is absolutely no excuse for banning disabled customers. If the centre is not safe for wheelchair users, it’s not safe for anyone and should be closed to everyone until it is safe again.

Please, readers, please, share this post as widely as possible. I’ll be sharing it with every media outlet I can think of.

Wheelchair users have been banned from entering the Grosvenor shopping centre after orders from fire chiefs.

On Thursday security guards are stopping people in wheelchairs and mobility scooters from entering the premises.

And those accessing the ground-level indoor market have been given escorts to prevent them entering shops.

It follows a safety inspection by Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service.

But the move has provoked upset and anger from bewildered customers.

Diane…

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