Objection to ARA Exemption Application: kelly

As a nurse who works primarily with people suffering various forms of disabilities, I find it extraordinary that in this day and age any of the public transport industry members should ask for an exemption to any of the provisions set out in the Disability Standards for Accessible Transport for any length of time what so ever. Able bodied people have a tendency to forget just how hard it is for the disabled to negotiate our vast network of trams, trains, taxies and buses. I urge you to think for a moment of how hard it would be to have yourself blindfolded, for example, and try to find your way from your home to an inner city meeting. Even an event in your immediate area could be a nightmare. Imagine you hire a taxi and the driver isn't familiar with your area (a not uncommon scenario these days.) After a while, it becomes obvious you should have reached your destination, but the driver continues down who knows what road in who knows what direction. As your anxiety builds, you politely ask the driver if he knows where he or she is going. The answer is less than helpful and spoken in very poor English. As he/she drives on and on, the tension builds. Another inquiry is met with a sharp rebuke from a driver who is becoming increasingly agitated. By now you have no idea just where you are and your mind is starting to play tricks on you. Safety becomes an urgent issue and already your day is ruined.

Imagine again being blindfolded and trying to negotiate your way through the maze of building mayhem that Spencer Street Station currently represents never knowing if the train you need to board is actually going to be at it's usual platform, or if it's coming at all. It may have been replaced with a bus leaving from the other end of the station with little or no notice. No use posting a sign board. Blind people can't read them. The bus scenario is also detrimental to people with other forms of disability. If you're in a wheel chair, you can't run all the way to the other end of the station in time to catch a bus.

The public transport system has for years required a major rethink of the way it makes travel accessible for disabled patrons. Disabled people should never be regarded as second class citizens. Permanent disability can result from accident or health crises and it can happen in a split second. Just ask one of my disabled clients who was simply minding his own business when knocked down and suffered serious ABI. Public transport is just that. Public transport. It's not just for the able bodied or the elite. It's for everybody and everyone should have total and unbridled access, so I urge you please, don't allow a time frame to be placed on a vulnerable section of our community. These problems should have been sorted out long ago. It well past time that public transport was made accessible to everyone.