Mackett, R;
(2016)
Improving accessibility for people with mental impairments.
In:
Proceedings of the 44th European Transport Conference.
Association for European Transport (AET): Barcelona, Spain.
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Abstract
In Great Britain, the Equality Act 2010 says that a person has a disability if he or she has a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long term adverse effect on everyday life. Much work has been done to reduce the barriers to travel for disabled people but the emphasis has been on investment in engineering solutions. It can be argued that much less has been done to address the needs of people with mental impairments than for those with a physical impairment. This paper considers the cognitive skills required for each stage of making a journey from pre-travel planning to dealing with disruption of the journey, for example recalling information, the ability to communicate and taking decisions. The ways in which various mental impairments affect these skills are examined. Mental impairments include learning disabilities, intellectual impairments such as dementia, behavioural impairments such as autism, and mental health conditions such as agoraphobia. Evidence from the UK Life Opportunities Survey shows that anxiety and lack of confidence and interactions with other passengers are much more significant barriers to travel than for people without a mental impairment. The paper then examines interventions that help to overcome the barriers to access for people with mental impairments. They can provide clear information, simplification of the journey, easier interpersonal communication, reassurance and cheaper travel. The last of these is important because many people with mental impairments have low incomes. The paper concludes with discussion about the appropriateness of the various interventions in terms of the assistance that they offer to support the various cognitive processes used in travelling
| Type: | Proceedings paper |
|---|---|
| Title: | Improving accessibility for people with mental impairments |
| Event: | 44th European Transport Conference |
| Location: | Barcelona, Spain |
| Dates: | 05 October 2016 - 07 October 2016 |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| Publisher version: | https://aetransport.org/en-gb/past-etc-papers/conf... |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This version is the version of record. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions. |
| Keywords: | cognitive impairments, travel, interventions, disability |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science > Dept of Civil, Environ and Geomatic Eng |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1520989 |
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