GOOD WILL TO ALL…BUT NOT YOU!

MIK SCARLET

COLUMNIST

Follow Mik on Twitter @MikScarlet

GOOD WILL TO ALL… BUT NOT YOU!

The festive season is upon us: a time filled with celebrations, parties and shopping for gifts for all the family. A season of goodwill to all, well, not all. Not for disabled people, it seems. As the COVID lockdown took hold, I genuinely thought that it would create a deeper understanding of what it means to be disabled within the wider non-disabled community. Having your world shrunk and experiencing a loss of autonomy through no action of your own, I anticipated that the nondisabled world would finally wake up to the lived experience of the disabled community. I hoped it would see a real will to remove the barriers we face on a daily basis, to create a truly inclusive future for all. How wrong I was. It soon became clear that what was going to happen was pretty much the opposite. As the world opened up, throughout the country schemes were rolled out that removed so many of the features that had been put in place to make the world more accessible, leading disabled people to feel their world shrink even more. A perfect example of what I mean is what is happening in the City of York. I became aware of what disabled people were facing in York through Twitter. Flick Williams, a local disabled person and inclusion expert, highlighted the new barriers being installed throughout the city. At every turn, choices have been made that meant the city became less accessible to disabled people, and the council seemed to ignore the outcry. I should say that I know York fairly well as I’ve visited many times for work and had time to explore the city, so when Flick and others highlighted the growing access issues of the city I could picture exactly what they mean. I also know that the city already had some issues for disabled people, due to the old problem of it being a historic location filled with listed buildings and preservation zones. Anyone with access requirements feels the cold hand of fear as soon as the words historic, listed or preservation are spoken, because we know they usually mean “we can’t be arsed to make any changes”. In York, I found that there had been a greater commitment than in similar towns and cities in the UK, and the disabled people that lived there agreed that it wasn’t super easy but there was enough provision to make it a good place to live. That was until we started to come out of lockdown earlier this year. All over the UK, the government provided funding to increase infrastructure to promote what is called Active Travel, getting people to walk and cycle more and use their cars less. As you’ve probably guessed, disabled people have been forgotten, or at least those who must rely on driving or being driven to get around. I could regale you with stories from most of the UK’s towns and cities, but let’s look at York as a prime example of what could be called a truly epic fail around the goal of using the push for more active travel to develop a more inclusive future for all.

If I tried to describe what has happened over the last year or so I would need a book rather than a column, but York has seen roads closed to prevent a possible terrorist attack, blocking access to blue badge bays, other roads closed with the same result to promote pedestrian areas, and restaurants and bars being given permits to use pavements as part of their business footprint, filling them with tables and chairs and blocking any way through. Pedestrians are expected to go onto the road, but there have been no dropped kerbs installed around these pavement hogs, meaning wheelchair users and others must retrace their movement to find a way off the kerb.

Flick explained the current issue with outside eating: “City of York is ignoring the No Obstruction clause allowing cafes the full width of the foot path in non-pedestrianised streets. It is ignoring the rule that pedestrians should not have to ‘pass through’ areas with tables and chairs. It is ignoring the rule that says the placement of cafe furniture should not interfere with the principal lines of pedestrian movement. The council loves the economic boost this has given to business as time and time again they prioritise tourism. Fundamentally, York’s narrow medieval streets are not wide Parisian Boulevards”.

Campaigners such as Flick, herself an expert in accessibility, have tried to get the council to change their methodology but to no avail. I’ve watched online as photos of awful examples of making the city more inaccessible have been rolled out, despite the outcry of the local people.

York’s latest insult to disabled people is the two-storey temporary bar and restaurant, The Winter Hütte, being erected in the middle of York where there is no access to the posh restaurant, so if disabled people who cannot manage stairs want to eat a meal, they have to be served in the bar area. I feel for Flick and York’s disabled community, but I fear it’s just one of the myriad locations across the country where disabled people are being failed and further excluded.

Happy Christmas eh?