My daily hunger to make a difference on travel for disabled

I am George Fielding, chair of the Kidz-Board at the charity Whizz-Kidz. Our role is to represent the views of over 1,000 ambassadors around the UK, and then help make improvements which impact on the lives of young disabled people. We see full accessibility to public transport as vitally important to support us to live fully active and independent lives.

On Monday, I was fortunate enough to be asked to represent Whizz-Kidz and give evidence to the Transport Select Committee, which was a fantastic opportunity to highlight the everyday issues which we experience as young wheelchair users.

Refreshingly, there was a lot of consensus with regards the general direction of change, and areas we all seek to improve. On more than one occasion emphasis was placed on the amount of difficulty disabled people experience as a result of people’s attitudes.

If attitudes were to change I think we’d be able to overcome the odd taxi ramp having rusted. George Fielding

While the quality of the transport infrastructure is not always consistent, if attitudes were to change I think we’d be able to overcome the odd taxi ramp having rusted (as happened to me on my way to Portcullis House for the meeting!) or the occasional lift being out of order.

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The full recommendations I made on behalf of Whizz-Kidz:

• That transport providers treat young disabled people like any other passenger. In order to do this, transport staff should have disability awareness training – preferably delivered in part by disabled people themselves.

• That disabled people play a key role in auditing and assessing the transport services and work with transport providers to ensure that these meet the needs of disabled people – a point which MP Adrian Sanders said was a “brilliant idea”. I told the committee how Whizz-Kidz’s Kidz Board worked with BAA in auditing Terminal 5 ahead of the Paralympics.

• That accessible transport is a key focus of the Paralympic legacy and that lessons learnt from making transport more accessible during the Games are rolled out across the UK and built upon in London. There was some reminiscing over last summer’s London Games, and it was during this time I felt staff were actively trying to assist wheelchair users. Why can’t staff undertake the role of supporting wheelchair-using passengers at all main terminals (e.g. Waterloo, Victoria, Manchester Piccadilly, etc)? This kind of accountability would improve the service and prevent singling us out as a “problem” or “nuisance”.

The Whizz-Kidz Generation Inspired? manifesto highlights the great hunger amongst disabled people to enforce change and to make a difference. I feel this hunger daily. Often, disabled people see life from a different perspective – by hearing our voices and supporting our independence will make an impact on all society.

I’m not one to let things hold me back; but public transport is routinely one such thing. We need to make it accessible to all, and with minor changes this is achievable. Let’s take the lessons and procedures undertaken in London last summer, roll them out across the UK and we’re starting to get there.