“Striving for Equal Opportunities In Mobility and Transport”
A Workshop organised by EBU with the financial support of the
European Community Action Programme to Combat Discrimination
Trieste (Italy), 14 to 16 July, 2006
I. Introduction
Within the framework of the European Community Action Programme to Combat Discrimination 2005/2006 EBU organised a workshop on striving for equal opportunities in mobility and transport which took place from July 14 to 16 in Trieste (Italy).Participants of the workshop were blind and partially sighted experts who have a wide experience in this field and who represented major European NGOs (EBU and EDF).
II. Programme and Objectives
This workshop took a close look at what has been done in the field of access to
mobility and transport since the Amsterdam Treaty of 1997.
The workshop had the following objectives :
- to identify the problems blind and partially sighted people still experience
in this field ;
- to highlight the positive steps taken by the EU to address these problems ;
- to outline the way forward, namely to consider how the instruments put in
place by the EU could be used in the best possible way ;
- to look at the role and responsibilities NGOs representing blind and partially
sighted people have in bringing about further progress.
The participants covered the following programme :
Day One
1. The Legislative Framework and Policy Context of Non Discrimination and
Equal Opportunities.
In this section, participants analysed the concept of discrimination, especially
within the context of Art. 13 of the Amsterdam Treaty and reviewed the Non
Discrimination Strategy of the EU 2000 to 2006.
2. The Position of Accessibility in Mobility and Transport within the Framework
of the Non Discrimination Strategy of the EU.
The workshop studied the transport bit of the Communication from the Commission
“Towards a Barrier-free Europe for People with Disabilities” and the Common
Transport White Paper and analysed its impact on the lives of blind and
partially sighted people.
3. The Instruments for Achieving Accessibility in Mobility and Transport and the
Role of the NGOs.
In the first part of this section participants reviewed and evaluated a number
of existing legislative instruments (bus and coach directive ; regulation on the
rights of disabled air passengers), the legislative work in progress (proposal
for an international rail passengers’ rights regulation ; public consultation on
maritime transport; IRU-ECMT Task Force recommendations on access to taxis).
Apart from legislation, EU funded research and the exchange of best practices
between EU Member Countries are a further important instruments to promote equal
opportunities of blind and partially sighted people in this field.
A second part in this section was therefore devoted to the analysis of the
outcome of the COST 322 (“Low Floor Buses”), COST 335 (“Passengers’
Accessibility of Heavy Rail Systems”) and COST 349 (“Accessibility of Coaches
and Long Distance Buses for PRMs”) and the ECMT Guide to good Practices which
are relevant in this field and which provided a wide range of highly
illustrative material to gauge the merits and shortcomings in the field of
access to mobility and transport.
Day Two
4. Participants resumed their work and looked at two important financial
instruments providing funds for taking the issue of access to mobility and
transport forward, namely the Public Procurement Directives and the Structural
Funds Regulation. The section closed with a discussion on the role of NGOs in
ensuring further progress in the field of combating discrimination.
III. Key Problems identified
The following key problems were identified where participants felt that more
should be done :
1. After non discrimination legislation has been put in place, the issue must be
taken now to the man in the street to raise awareness of the needs of blind and
partially sighted people and to bring about a change of attitude. The concept of
discrimination is very complicated involving several types and subtypes of
discriminatory behaviours and attitudes. There is a wide range of documents on
discrimination available. However, most of these were written by experts using
highly technical language unlikely to reach the general public. Given the need
for awareness raising campaigns, EBU is recommended to draft and distribute a
Guide on Non Discrimination which uses easy to understand language and draws on
real cases where people with disabilities have experienced discrimination. For
the production and distribution of this guide the EU should make funding
available.
2. Education is very important and is a powerful agent in making people aware of
what discrimination is and how it can be avoided. Participants felt that too
little has been done to ensure that the issue of discrimination is addressed by
the schools. Pupils must have a clear idea of the fact that a substantial
segment of society is still being discriminated against and what needs to be
done to redress this. Participants agreed that especially national and local
NGOs have a very important role in collaborating with the responsible government
bodies and school boards and in consulting on the choice of suitable material
for textbooks to ensure that blind and partially sighted people and their
situation are presented in a realistic way.
3. Participants welcomed the Communication from the Commission “Towards a
Barrier-free Europe for People with Disabilities” and the measures it outlines
to promote equal opportunity in the field of mobility and transport. However,
they were concerned to learn that in some member countries such as the UK
funding for mobility instruction is being cut back or spent for other purposes,
and that waiting times until training can be started are too long.
Moving about independently within the home or community is a crucial issue
facing people who have lost most or all of their sight. Mobility is vital to be
able to get to an interview for a job or to the office; or to travel
independently in a Europe that is growing together rapidly. To travel safely and
independently blind and partially sighted people do mobility instruction which
is delivered by specialists and which therefore constitutes an important
requirement to achieve a barrier-free Europe.
To ensure this goal, legislation needs to be backed by some positive action.
Government should therefore make funding available for mobility instruction and
the training and recruitment of mobility instructors to ensure that regionally
comprehensive services are offered and waiting times to take up mobility courses
are a minimum.
4. Participants welcomed the fact that DG TREN has been giving increased
attention to disability access issues over recent years. They were concerned,
however, to find that work on equal opportunities of people with disabilities in
mobility and transport was little recognised in the White Paper on Common
Transport Policy. Also there was no reference in the paper to the Communication
on a barrier-free Europe.
Participants identified four key issues which should be addressed at
EU level :
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Access to transport infrastructure and the built environment
Participants felt that it was crucial to develop a EU common mandatory standard
which would ensure that blind and partially sighted people travelling across
Europe find a certain level of access across the board. The present situation is
fairly patchy with different standards existing in different member states which
are not necessarily being complied with.
Access to rolling stock and vehicles
It was acknowledged that the EU was moving in the right direction with the
recent Directive on Buses and Coaches, the proposal for a regulation on
international rail passenger and the air passenger rights regulation. However,
accessibility provisions of the present directive are not mandatory yet. In this
respect participants welcomed the fact that the EU was considering a proposal
for a new bus directive that would make accessibility compulsory for all types
of vehicles and urban buses.
Access to information and services
This issue is specially important for blind and partially sighted people.
Material must be available in braille format, large print and accessible
websites. The EU transport policy must also examine and address the issue of
assistance to blind and partially sighted people. A minimum level of assistance
should also be provided at railway stations. The needs of blind and partially
sighted people should be addressed in the respective legislative work underway
at EU level presently.
Seamless transport
Often the issue of access to transport is reduced to the design of accessible
vehicles. However, we need to look at the whole chain of transport and seamless
travelling. Mobility starts right after closing the door of one’s home and ends
at the destination which may be the work place, a hotel or a restaurant. While
some progress has been achieved in making the modes of transport accessible, the
intersectoral gaps still existing must be closed. The EU Transport Policy is
instrumental in promoting a seamless transport system for people with
disabilities.
5. EBU has a major role to play in promoting equal opportunities in mobility and
access to transport. The EU officials are often not aware of the special needs
of blind and partially sighted people. Participants recommended that EBU should
develop a policy paper on access and accessibility explaining very clearly the
special needs of blind and partially sighted people as regards with orientation,
information and the design of good services. This policy paper which could be
used in negotiations with the EU should stress that equal opportunities in
mobility and access to transport is a human right for disabled people and
central to their free movement, independence and inclusion in society.
6. Participants acknowledged the efforts being undertaken by the EU in promoting
equal opportunities of people with disabilities as regards with mobility and
access to transport. Recent progress achieved in this field included the Buses
and Coaches Directive, the Disabled Air Passenger Rights Regulation and the
proposal for an international rail passenger regulation. To ensure the full and
effective implementation of these measures and to extend access provisions to
other modes and transport they urgently recommended the following action :
As
regards with a new buses and coaches directive, EBU should lobby for the
inclusion of the following accessibility requirements: audible announcements;
bell controls in colour contrasts that can be reached from the seat; accessible
design of bus stops; contrast colour on vehicle frontside; audible signals when
the bus is arriving; display readable from the outside; number of bus should be
placed on the side as well.
The
EBU Mobility and Transport Working Group is recommended to write a paper on
accessibility requirements for blind and partially sighted people regarding
vehicle design and infrastructure to be circulated to all EBU member
organisations. This paper could be part of the set of EBU policy documents on
access to transport paper mentioned further above.
Participants felt that it might be useful to wait for and analyse the final
report of COST 349 which contains action regarding the design of bus stops and
terminals and which might provide useful information on this.
Concerning the implementation of the disabled air passenger rights regulation
EBU member organisations are recommended to ensure that the provisions are
transposed in the best possible way and that the organisations representing
blind and partially sighted people are fully consulted by the airports.
As
regards with the international rail passengers rights regulation member
organisations should lobby at the national level to ensure that the issue of
accessibility is addressed in a comprehensive way, that assistance is provided
to an extent that contributes to seamless travel for blind and partially sighted
travellers (negative points in the present amended version concern integrated
ticketing not mandatory, extension of pre-notification time to 48 instead of 24
hours and the limitation of designated points of arrival to main stations).
7. Participants were also concerned to hear about cases where blind sea
passengers had been denied boarding or been treated in an undignified and
humiliating way. Participants therefore appreciated the fact that the EU
Commission has started a public consultation aimed at strengthening the rights
of maritime passengers with disabilities.
EBU is recommended to ensure that the rights and accessibility needs of blind
and partially sighted maritime passengers are take into account in the
respective regulation. Issues to be addressed should include the provision of
assistance, protection from unjustified denied boarding and the right to
accessible information.
8. Participants specially welcomed the fact that accessibility requirements may
be included in the public procurement directives. Again, this is an encouraging
step to promote equal opportunities in mobility and access to transport. They
called upon member organisations to ensure that the accessibility criteria are
applied at national and local levels. It was felt that this responsibility
should not be left to the disability councils which often are unaware of the
special needs of blind and partially sighted people.
9. A further success of the lobbying undertaken by EDF and EBU is the fact that
the principle of accessibility has recently been included in the General Treaty
of the Structural Funds. The Structural Funds are an important tool to promote
mobility and access to transport and to help reduce social exclusion as money
from the fund is used, amongst others, for investments in transport systems and
the built environment. Again, it is very important to note that the principle of
subsidiarity implies giving the Member States the responsibility for the
implementation of the ESF.
Member organisations are recommended to lobby at the national level to ensure
that the accessibility criteria are applied when public money from the ESF is
used.
IV. Conclusions and the way forward
This EBU workshop took a look at equal opportunities of blind and partially
sighted people with regards to mobility and access to transport. Participants
acknowledged as a turning point in the history of the disability movement in
Europe the Amsterdam Treaty of 1997 and its inclusion of a general
non-discrimination article which specifically contains a reference to
disability. Article 13 provides the basis for action to combat discrimination.
Legislation has been adopted since then strengthening the rights of blind and
partially sighted people and other positive action have been put in place to
challenge discriminatory behaviour and promote a change of attitude. Despite the
fact that some progress doubtlessly has been achieved, blind and partially
sighted people experience discrimination in access to mobility and transport.
To achieve further progress in this field EBU is urgently recommended to follow
closely all present legislation underway and ensure that the mobility and
transport needs of blind and partially sighted travellers are taken aboard.
The EU is recommended to listen carefully to EBU and the expertise it is able to
give to achieve equal opportunities in the field of mobility and access to
transport for blind and partially sighted people.
Berlin, 14 August 2006
Hans Kaltwasser
Secretary of the Cabinet of the EBU Liaising Commission