Who Put That There? Biggleswade blindfold walk

RNIB (Royal National Institute of Blind People)  are currently running a fortnight of action on street clutter. "Why?" you might think. Ask any blind or partially sighted person and they'll tell you that they regularly collide, trip or fall due to obstacles being in the way as they try to walk about their local area. Of course the irony being us visually impaired often have no other option other than to walk, not being allowed to drive and all. Public transport can only get you so far, so shanks' pony is what most blind and partially sighted people rely on.

 An abandoned road works sign on a main route into Biggleswade town centre

Last year a survey of over 500 blind and partially sighted people found that in the preceding 3 months 95% of them had collided with a street obstacle. Of that number a third had been injured in some way ranging from serious brakes, cuts and sprains as well as bad bruising. As well as the physical damage most said that such collisions made them feel nervous or anxious about going out. In extreme cases a few said that would not go out with out another person with them. Many said that they would take deliberately longer routes in order to avoid certain obstacles or busy roads. Whilst others would avoid going out on bin day because the dustbins and recycling bags were strewn in such a way that it made walking about just too stressful.

Cllr Bernard Rix being lead by Emily to avoid bins - road has been like this for months on our new estate and is unsafe to walk in

It's not just blind and partially sighted people, older people, those with mobility problems, or those who use wheelchairs, as well as parents with small children and buggies/ prams said that they find street obstacles a problem. So what do we mean by "obstacles?" The most common mentioned are:
Bins
Cars parked on pavements
Advertising boards
Over hanging branches
Street furniture and cafe furniture
Roads too unsafe to cross or pedestrian crossings which are not fully accessible

So from the 6th - 19th July RNIB campaigners from around the country are asking local councils and government to consider these issues. There's a helpful report which outlines the problems and a toolkit (see previous link) for councils which helps them plan with local blind and partially sighted people to develop a "Street Charter" which brings together best practice and new initiatives into one document.

Today I was joined by two councillors, Bernard Rix who is a town councillor and Cllr Budge Wells from Central Bedfordshire Council, who has responsibility for waste and highways. Both agreed to wear a blindfold or "sim specs" which simulate different eye conditions and be guided by Emily Papaleo, RNIB Regional Campaigns Officer for the East of England, whilst I spoke to them about the problems I face and the strategies I use to try and stay safe. Initially I wasn't sure if the whole blindfold / sim spec thing would work, it smacked of tokenism. But over the last 2 years I have changed my mind completely. As long as the person wearing the blindfold is accompanied by a visually impaired person ( as well as the sighted guide) then I think the blindfold walks work really well. It's also in context, so walking down the street is something we do all the time thinking nothing of it, but if you temporarily have a sense impaired it makes that experience of walking down the street seem different. Most people become afraid and cautious, they wonder how they would cope if this happened permanently and they didn't have a guide? They begin to ask questions they had never thought of before like "How does someone who is blind learn how to use a white cane? How would a Guide Dog help you here? How do you cope with all the noise it's really frightening? I never realised how noisy streets are!"

Cllr Bernard Rix and Cllr Budge Wells with me in the market square A- Board in background

These questions start a dialogue. Cllr Budge summed it up quite well after his walk. He said something like "You'd have needed many more words and a lot more time to help me understand what I have just learnt by wearing this blindfold. In fact words would not have been able to convey what I felt doing this." He's right, not just emotional feelings like, "This is scary and overwhelming" but the physical feeling of tactile paving under your feet, and the relief that when he felt it he knew there was a crossing.

Any way both walks were really useful. Bernard walked around the streets near my house. He experienced needing to weave through wheelie bins and parked cars on pavements and how difficult it is to walk on uneven surfaces if you have no depth perception.

Budge was able to go on a longer walk around the market square in Biggleswade. He was surprised by the number of advertising boards and their random and confusing placement. He experienced how disorientating it was when road and pavement surfaces are the same with no kerbs. He learnt how guide dogs are trained to find kerbs for their owners. They rely on kerbs in knowing where to cross roads safely. He also learnt about how visually impaired people often take longer routes in order to cross safety at road crossings. We also showed him the mysterious "spinning cones" under traffic light boxes that tell you when it's the "green man." We then walked along a narrow residential street so he could feel what it was like to collide with a wheelie bin.

It was during our walk down this street that we came across a van illegally parked completely across the pavement, on a road with double yellow lines. Added to this the placement of wheelie bins made it impossible to carry on walking along that path. A lady with a buggy who was following us also could not continue her journey safely because of the parked van. Budge was so angered by this he immediately called the highways reporting line and reported the van. This meant that an official would come to the site and fine the van driver for their illegal parking.

Illegally parked van - a few yards away from public car park! Note the wing mirrors - many blind and partially sighted people are injured by wing mirrors.

We discussed many issues with Budge but in particular the importance of regularly consulting and involving disabled people in highways and planning issues. If one thing comes out of this exercise I hope it is that an access group is set up to advise the council.

On Saturday two other councillors will meet with me and a blind resident to do a mini blindfold walk. I will continue with my street audit during the next few days then I'll write up a report with recommendations which I will submit to the councils and share here.