5. Our Other Activity

5. Our Other Activity

Knowing Me, Knowing You – Team Sessions

A highlight for the Committee this year was undertaking a “Knowing Me, Knowing You” session where MACS invited guests from Enable Scotland (Amanda Taylor) and Passio (Ashley Peacock) to raise awareness of, and discuss hidden disabilities, looking at the travel challenges through the lens of people with learning difficulties, learning disabilities and neurodiversity.

An overview was given by Enable in relation to the difference between learning difficulties and learning disability. Examples were given of difficulties faced when reading and navigating timetables as well as navigating physical infrastructure such as steps, ramps and equipment difficulties as well as experiencing issues of drivers and conductors not fully understanding the needs of those with neurodiverse conditions. It was emphasised that some people can also face prejudice in terms of bullying and harassment.

Passio then further delved into issues faced by those with ADHD, autism and dyslexia, who often struggle with executive functioning skills and concentration and the ability to focus for long periods of time. This can have a huge impact for those trying to follow signs or timetabling, purchase the appropriate tickets, or use applications, but also adds challenges due to sounds and environments.

Solutions to some of the issues above could be in the form of training for staff, introduction of sensory rooms and quiet spaces in bus and train stations. Quiet carriages could be introduced where appropriate, paperless systems for travel too, so that individuals do not need to manage multiple pieces of papers or tickets.

In a separate session the Committee heard from the Chief Officer of DeafScotland (Janis McDonald). This session focused on the Four Pillars of Deafness and stimulated a great deal of valuable discussions.

I would like to thank our guests and Hussein Patwa, Michael Tornow and Joanne Devitt for the work and planning they have contributed to our Knowing Me, Knowing You Team sessions.

The Four Pillars of Deafness:

The Four Pillars of Deafness indicate that there are generally quite different barriers and solutions within those groups. It should also be made clear that everyone is an individual and should be respected as such.

Deaf/Deaf Sign Language Users (Congenital Deafness):

People that are born Deaf have significant challenges developing spoken language. Most, although not all, have British Sign Language (BSL) as their first language. Some may have cochlear implants or hearing aids. There are around 12,500 BSL users in Scotland.

Deafblind:

Those 4,000 or so people who face significant challenges through hearing-and-sight loss, which may often be as a result of Usher Syndrome or combination of deteriorating symptoms. Tactile language may be required.

Deafened (Acquired Deafness):

First language is often English. Some people may prefer sign language, generally depending on the age at which they became deaf. Hearing loss is significant. People may have bilateral hearing aids or cochlear implants. There are around 355,000 deafened people in Scotland.

Hard of Hearing:

Hearing loss is sometimes described as mild or moderate in medical terminology. Whilst often age-related it can also be as a result of damage, virus, or combinations of reasons. People may wear one or two hearing aids. There are around 600,000 hard of hearing people in Scotland.

The Committee as a whole found these discussions informative and thanked Amanda, Ashley and Janis for their time and commitment.

Development Days

This year the Development Days have focused on:

• August 2020 – Unfortunately our planned Development Day on Bus Service Provision was cancelled.

The planned Development Days for 2021-22 are:

• April 2021 – Inclusive Mobility in meeting the door-to-door journey challenge. At the time of writing this report the planning for this has been finalised and guest speakers confirmed. We will explore the barriers and solutions to undertaking successful door-to-door journeys. Kevin Hamilton, the newly appointed Scottish Road Works Commissioner, will also present. Susan Fulton will present on inclusive infrastructure and Keith Robertson on barriers to meeting the door-to-door challenge. Keith will also chair this day and it will be used as a prelude to Keith handing over the reins of his workstream to Susan Fulton as his second term with MACS ends on 30 September 2021.
• August 2021 – The planning has commenced for this development day, which will have a focus on rail, the work of the Railways for Everyone Board and progress from the Williams/Shapps Review. This session could also act as a handover session to the new Workstream Leads as both Marsali Craig and Hussein Patwa’s second term with MACS comes to an end at the end of September 2021.

Scoping Day

MACS hosted a very successful Scoping Day this reporting year attended by the Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Infrastructure and Connectivity.

We raised the following issues with him:

• Active Travel and Spaces for People – ensuring these Schemes positively include disabled people. The Cabinet Secretary gave a little bit of background on SfP and stated that, although in general it was successful, he was aware of issues around accessibility. Advice and guidance has been provided to Local Authorities, which he thanked MACS for producing.
• The Cabinet Secretary updated that Local Authorities have been made aware of any arising issues and had already been asked to revisit the Guidance.
• MACS raised concerns, that in some cases, these temporary structures had added challenges for disabled people. MACS concerns remained that these temporary structures could be made permanent and as such could be building in additional challenges and barriers.

The Cabinet Secretary assured the Committee that Local Authorities which wish to make any structures permanent would be required to undertake a consultation process. He also stated that he would ask officials to consider ways to engage further with Local Authorities to ensure that they revisit measures where accessibility issues persist.

• Performance Monitoring of the National Transport Strategy 2 (NTS2) – This discussion focused on what can be done to explore and reduce the “mobility gap”. The Cabinet Secretary recognised the equality gap in accessing public transport, giving reassurances that the NTS2 Delivery Plan will allow monitoring and evaluation on an annual basis. He welcomed the concept of exploring the mobility gap (and how to close it) and asked MACS to work with his officials to explore this further.
• MACS continue to ask the Cabinet Secretary for his thoughts on how the 20-minute neighbourhood aspirations from PfG will play into NTS2. The Cabinet Secretary stated that the PfG makes clear links to inclusion and accessibility and the NTS2 also has inclusion, accessibility and human rights-based approaches at its heart. The pandemic has meant a significant change in travel behaviours, i.e. more active travel, less use of public transport and more people working from home. Encouraging people to stay local and familiarise themselves with their local areas, the 20-minute neighbourhood concept is an extension of this. The concept also fits well within NTS2 transport hierarchy in reducing demands for travel and fitting the well-being agenda, which in turn enhances individuals’ work/life balance.
• Digital Infrastructure, Traveline Scotland and rural bus services were also raised, where it was recognised that there was room for improvements to be made for disabled people.

The Cabinet Secretary also thanked MACS for its work in responding to the pandemic and also in raising the profile of access and inclusion issues with other Ministers and portfolios, and acknowledged that MACS influence and impact had grown significantly as a result.

The remainder of the Scoping Day covered:

• Review and scrutiny of the NTS2 and the Accessible Travel Framework (ATF) Annual Delivery Plan – MACS had prepared a discussion paper on how best to ensure Scotland’s transport is as accessible as it can be and if the ATF is still the vehicle to deliver that aspiration
• Draft Strategic Plan – The Convener had produced and circulated the draft Strategic Plan for 2021-2024 and Work Plan for the following year, built from MACS discussions and engagements. Key issues raised in relation to this were that there was a need for focused stakeholder engagement, post-pandemic planning and continuing with the supplementary twice-a-year committee meetings to discuss workstream areas of engagement to ensure alignment with the high-level objectives within the Strategy Plan and Work Plans. The Convener agreed to make amendments to reflect these issues, bringing it back to the January 2021 meeting for final sign-off in line with the Committee’s planning cycle and governance requirements.
• MACS also suggested that Transport Scotland should explore hosting another major conference showcasing how accessibility is built into our future transport systems.

Four Nations Meetings

The period of this year’s report saw a Four Nations Meeting take place on 8 October 2020. The common issues raised across the nations were as follows:

• Covid-19 Impacts – Guidance, active travel measures, assistance cards and “Build Back Better” messaging;
• EU Exit – Impact on assistance dogs;
• Personal Mobility – (i) e-scooters, (ii) Motability, (iii) the Highway Code Review, and (iv) pavement parking, and;
• The National Strategy for Disabled People (England).