Disability Reference Group: you can help
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Another group member, Gloria Weeks demonstrates how obstructions like overgrown shrubbery create dangerous obstacles. |
Christchurch City Council has a Disability Reference Group and its responsibilities include promoting public awareness about disability issues in our community. The group’s members say people can help by considering the following:
Overhanging tree branches. A major problem is having clear footpaths. Blind and vision-impaired pedestrians are able to walk along the street with mobility aids such as a cane or a guide dog, concentrating on the footpath surface, looking out for hazards and obstacles directly in front or to the side. Shrubs trees and hedges protruding across and hanging over the footpath present a serious hazard at a higher level and can cause injury to the head and face. Remaining eyesight may be endangered.
Local authority bylaws include the requirement of property owners to keep their trees and shrubs trimmed; the height restriction is 2m and, especially in wet and windy conditions, branches can be even more of a nuisance as they hang lower with the weight of water. Please monitor your trees and prune them regularly.
Other obstacles creating hazards on the footpaths are recycling crates and rubbish bags. If you are putting your material out for collection or it you are a collector and putting emptied crates down, please put these by the kerb and not on footpaths. People with mobility walkers, wheelchair users and cane users have difficulty trying to weave around obstacles, which can easily cause an accident.
Other difficulties on footpaths are created by bicycles left lying across the path, billboards, shop goods stalls and parked cars. A moment’s thought about placement of these objects so as not to cause a hazard would be much appreciated. We are all entitled to walk independently and a little consideration goes a long way, the group says. Please help ensure our city’s accessible for everyone.
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Disability Reference Group member Graham Tapper thinks the city is doing great things for accessibility, with excellent new walkways and good paths but urges people to keep them tidy. “For people like me who use our hands to get us around, the things that are dropped on paths can be a real problem. It’s pretty awful when you run through some dog doings and have it on your hands. It gets into the treads too and you worry about tracking it inside. Broken glass is another big one. Punctures are really difficult when you’re in a chair because you’re basically out of action; you have to push yourself along on a flat and that ruins it. These days a new chair tyre costs $24.” |
- The Council aims to enhance the active participation and contribution of people with disabilities. In 2003 it adopted an Equity and Access Policy for People with Disabilities and set up the reference group. The policy is on the web at www.ccc.govt.nz/Policy/EquityAccessDisabilities.asp
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