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IN TOUCH – Coronavirus and Pavement Parking

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TX:Ìý 17.03.20Ìý 2040-2100

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PRESENTER:Ìý ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý PETER WHITE

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PRODUCER:Ìý ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý KEVIN CORE

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White

Good evening.Ìý Tonight, the implications for blind people of measures to combat coronavirus.Ìý Are the risks of isolation greater?Ìý And for a group of people for whom touch is so crucial are there techniques we can adopt to keep us safe?

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And after 50 years of campaigning, are we finally going to get our pavements back?

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But first, must of the information pouring out from government and medical experts applies to visually impaired people just as it does to anyone else.Ìý But a number of you have been contacting the programme concerned about the impact that some of the plans to keep the virus at bay could have on blind and partially sighted people.Ìý

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An email from Kirsten Hearn pulled together many of those concerns and she’s been telling me about her worries.

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Hearn

The social contact stuff is making me quite edgy and I’m just thinking about when I’m making journeys to different workplaces and stuff, I get assistance from people and I’m just wondering if social distancing is being applied whether I won’t get the kind of assistance that I might need because people seem to be over-reacting to lots of things, although this is a very serious situation we’re in but I’m just wondering if aside from bulk buying and everything they decide not to go within a mile of anybody, how do visually impaired people get assistance getting across a difficult road or finding our way into somewhere which we may not know.Ìý So, that’s one of my edginess’s.

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White

Because touching is natural, isn’t it, for people trying to help us.Ìý And normally, perhaps, people complain about the fact of people touching too much but you’re worried about maybe people being afraid to touch at all.

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Hearn

That makes me edgy.Ìý I am also really very edgy about the selfishness of bulk buying and panic shopping.Ìý I get my groceries online and everything seemed to be available to me but when it arrives some key things aren’t – like loo paper for example.Ìý Now if I was sighted, I’d go moseying on down the road and peaking into a few shops and I’d probably run to ground some loo roll but that’s quite difficult for me to do as a blind person by myself.Ìý I’ve compared it, in some way, to how I feel when we have heavy snow and I feel kind of like a little bit imprisoned already and a bit that I’m having to rely on other people who are very kind and supportive and all that kind of stuff but in a sense it’s removing my independence.

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White

Can I just raise another issue, which plays into this whole thing of the extent to which we, as blind people, depend on touch?Ìý Michael Hughes has got in touch with us and he says there are implications for blind people if, for instance, we avoid the handrail on stairs, as he did, he tells us, yesterday, at the railway station.Ìý He said, you don’t use the handrail you risk tripping or falling over.Ìý And he concluded it was safer to hold the handrail running his hand underneath rather than on top.Ìý I just wondered are there other things like this which your dependence on touch has made you aware of?

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Hearn

Yes, I mean I – when I’m on the bus or on the tube I hold the handrail because I don’t want to go hurtling along the carriage or end up in somebody’s lap or something like that.Ìý So, actually I wear gloves and have to try and school myself not to touch my face because, yes, something I do quite a lot.

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White

Now you’ve been talking there about people getting help, but by way of contrast you’re worried a bit about people being over-restricted.Ìý What’s your concern about that?

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Hearn

I’ve heard all about this stuff about people aged 70 or with pre-existing conditions must stay at home for the next four months and I’m really worried about suddenly being under house arrest.

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White

You’re worried about the assumption of vulnerability just because someone is blind?

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Hearn

Yes, yes, indeed and somebody who’s pretty fit actually and I’m well at the moment.Ìý And I get the urgency of this but I think there’s a sort of – there has to be a level of balance here.

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White

One more thing, you’ve talked quite a lot about the help that people need.Ìý Who do you think should be offering this added help?

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Hearn

Well I think it needs to come from the local authorities and from the Health Service because those two kind of key organisations are very important because their services need to be accessible and from the local authorities’ point of view they need to be in contact with their older and disabled people and to be clear that they’re being checked on.Ìý I think there’s a huge role to play for voluntary organisations, face groups and others around the place to make sure that they’re supporting people who they’re in contact with.

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White

Kirsten Hearn.

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And don’t forget there are 180 of those voluntary organisations for visually impaired people throughout the UK.

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We’ve spoken to the Department of Health and Social Care; they’re not tailoring different advice for blind people.Ìý The RNIB told us that at this point they weren’t adding to government guidelines.Ìý The visual impairment charity based in the North – Henshaws – has told us they are providing phone support and they’ll be offering specific advice next week.

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Meanwhile Guide Dogs are making changes to the services they provide.Ìý Their Director of Operations, Peter Osborne, explained how they were responding to the latest government advice.

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Osborne

Obviously, with the fast-developing situation we will not be in a position to deliver face-to-face services to people.Ìý So, what we’re actually going to be doing is providing a lot more support via telephone, obviously via the internet as well, we’re looking at the possibility of setting up almost a virtual cup of tea type service, so that we can get people chatting to each other through these difficult times.Ìý And our aim is to make sure that we provide people with as much information as possible, so, that they can continue to support themselves during this very difficult and challenging time for a lot of people.

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White

Now you mention providing services online but as you know there are quite a lot of people, perhaps particularly older people, but not necessarily, who struggle a bit with online, so, what will you – what are you doing specifically for them?

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Osborne

We will be calling people directly.Ìý A lot of our teams obviously will be doing this, we’ve got a lot of staff and volunteers who will be supporting that.Ìý So, absolutely, it’s not possible for everybody to access online services and we wouldn’t expect that but we will definitely working to support people through the phone wherever possible.Ìý

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White

And in particular what kind of information are you expecting people to need?

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Osborne

Yeah, we know that people are going to have concerns about exercising their dogs and how to keep their dogs entertained during these quite difficult times.Ìý So, we’ll have some ideas about how they can do that.Ìý We need to make sure that obviously people can get food for their dogs and if there are any challenges with that, we will support people to address it.Ìý But also, people who have been benefiting from our My Guide service, and let’s keep in mind that 50% of the people that we support with the My Guide service are over 70, obviously they’re not going to be benefiting from that face-to-face service so, we’ll be trying to recommend other local groups that we become aware of that are actually providing support, there’s some great community effort going on around the country to make sure that people don’t become isolated.Ìý So, we’ll be telling people about those groups as we become aware of them.

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White

And just remind people who don’t know what the My Guide service is.

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Osborne

Yeah, the My Guide service is a sighted guiding service where volunteers will go out to people and will support them to do what they need to do.Ìý So, obviously that’s very much a face-to-face service which relies on some fantastic volunteers who enable us to deliver that, many of whom are also now going to be experiencing the challenges of needing to self-isolate.Ìý So, we just realise it’s going to be impossible for us to continue that face-to-face service for some time.

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White

And can I just ask you, where are the people who are going to be giving this information on the phone, who are they drawn from?

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Osborne

There’ll be drawn from our existing staff and also our volunteers.Ìý Many of our staff are obviously going to be working from home, so, we’re currently enabling that to happen as best we can through the telephone systems that we have.Ìý So, it’ll be our existing staff and volunteers who’ll be providing that support.

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White

Peter Osborne.Ìý And we’d like to hear about how you’re coping.

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Now back to the more work-a-day problems which will presumably still be with us when the coronavirus crisis is hopefully a bad memory.Ìý One of the longest running irritants for blind people has been cars, vans, even lorries, parked on our pavements.Ìý But a few weeks ago, In Touch listeners got an early heads up from Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, that things might be about to change.

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Shapps

Yeah, I think these things are of concern and you mentioned something before, earlier, which is cars parked on pavements and I can let your listeners know that I will be, very shortly, saying some more on exactly this subject because I think that it is right that people should be able to have an expectation of being able to step our outside their homes on to the pavement and being able to reasonably walk down that pavement.Ìý Now we’re some way from that, I appreciate, and I’ll be saying more about it very soon.

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White

Well that announcement has now come and Tom Walker has been looking into its implications for us.Ìý So, Tom, what exactly has the government said now?

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Walker

Well Peter last year the Department for Transport carried out a review which looked at the problems caused by pavement parking, whether current legislation works and whether there’s a case for changing the law.Ìý They found that pavement parking causes serious problems for 95% of blind and partially sighted people and 98% of wheelchair users.Ìý As a result of that review, the government now intends to do a further consultation this summer on proposals to alleviate those problems that cars parked on pavements cause for people with mobility or visual impairments as well as parents with prams.Ìý They’re looking at how a nationwide ban on pavement parking, enforced by local authorities, might work.Ìý There would inevitably be some exceptions but the default would be for a ban.Ìý They also say that a tailored approach may be needed in rural and suburban areas as they face different challenges.

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White

And there’s no playing down the fact, is there, that this has caused real problems for real people doesn’t it?

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Walker

Absolutely it does.Ìý Diane Marks told ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ News about how pavement parking affects her guide dog.

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Marks

If he doesn’t feel safe about getting past that vehicle on the pavement because it’s parked on the pavement, he will actually then safely take me out into the road to have to get around the vehicle.Ìý And this causes a safety issue and is dangerous for me because I can’t see oncoming vehicles or see them from behind me.Ìý So, it is extremely dangerous.

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White

And equally tricky for cane users as well of course.Ìý So, what are the rules now Tom, as things stand?

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Walker

Well they differ between London and the rest of the country.Ìý In London parking on the pavements is illegal, which can be enforced by local authorities.Ìý In the rest of the country, however, only the police can intervene unless of course there are yellow lines in place already.Ìý In England, councils do have the option of traffic regulation orders if they want to stop motorists from parking on the kerb.Ìý For this, though, they need to publish the order in a newspaper and they can be very bureaucratic and expensive.

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White

And now Scotland have already taken steps, haven’t they?

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Walker

Yes, in 2016 members of the Scottish Parliament voted in principle to make pavement parking illegal.Ìý The law has now been changed and parking on the pavements will be prohibited subject to a number of exemptions.Ìý The law comes into effect in 2021 and will be enforced by local authorities.

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White

Tom Walker, thank you.

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So, how effective will these measures be?Ìý Well Sarah Lambert is Head of Social Change at the RNIB, she gave me her reaction.

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Lambert

We’re delighted that the government are finally looking to ban pavement parking in England.Ìý Blind and partially sighted people tell us that a range of street obstructions really hamper their ability to get out and about and pavement parking is a big part of that.Ìý So, it’s great that the government are finally listening and look like they’re going to take some clear action.

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White

Perhaps the key word in what you’ve just said is finally because this has been going on a long time, as well as yourselves and in the National Federation of the Blind had their famous Give us back our pavements campaign.Ìý Why do you think this has taken so long?

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Lambert

Well, we’ve been campaigning for this for a very long time and, as you say, other organisations have too and we’ve just seen various kind of delays from government, there were some issues where different road users are a bit concerned about some of the impacts of a ban on pavement parking.Ìý So, we’re really keen to find something that can really work to make sure that pavements can be kept clear and that any new law will be enforceable too.

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White

Now, of course, as you imply, we’ve heard promises before, there is a consultation still going to happen before this happens, what is the RNIB going to be doing to make this a reality, what are the points you’ll be pressing?

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Lambert

At the moment, there is a ban on pavement parking in London and that law has been in place since 1974 and in addition the Scottish government recently also legislated in this area, so we know that this is something that can be done.Ìý So, we’ll be looking to kind of point to those examples to government to say look, an outright ban is something that you should be considering and should be taking forward.Ìý And we’ll be also talking to blind and partially sighted people too and making sure that they can get involved in the consultation, that they’re putting their views forward to government to really demonstrate just what an important issue it is to blind and partially sighted people.

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White

But anyone walking the streets of London, where, as you say, it has been illegal knows a. that there are exceptions because of worries, for example, about narrow roads, to emergency vehicles getting through but also where there are no exceptions it’s just ignored.Ìý How confident can we be that this is going to actually be enforced even if it does get through?

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Lambert

Absolutely, there really is a challenge around enforcement.Ìý I think what’s really interesting is that Guide Dogs did a survey recently that showed that only 26% of blind and partially sighted people had daily problems with pavement parking in London compared to 45% UK wide.Ìý So, it does show that although there are still problems in London, we are in a better situation in London than we are elsewhere.Ìý But we also need to make sure that enforcement does get better in London and elsewhere.Ìý So, we’ll be looking to government to be firstly making sure that they roll out a public awareness campaign to make sure that drivers realise where they are and aren’t allowed to park and then also we want to make sure that local authorities have the resources that they need to enforce – enforce the ban within their areas.

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White

Which is quite a big if isn’t it, given the financial state of local authorities?

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Lambert

It will be a challenge but given the importance of this issue to blind and partially sighted people we’ll be really pressing government to make sure that local authorities do have those resources available to them.

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White

Of course, Scotland has introduced rules of its own, which are due to come into force, are there lessons to be learned from that do you think?

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Lambert

So, Scotland will be introducing new legislation from next year and they very much looked at kind of the London model, so I think we very much want to – we would like the rest of the UK to follow what Scotland has done.

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White

Presumably it’ll be interesting to see how that works when it is finally introduced.

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Lambert

Yeah, absolutely, I think it’ll be very important to see what is and what isn’t working, how enforcement is rolled out across Scotland and really learn from that example to make sure that it is effective elsewhere.Ìý And really calling on Wales and Northern Ireland too to follow suit.

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White

Sarah Lambert, RNIB’s Head of Social Change.

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And that’s it for this week.Ìý We welcome your ideas on social isolation or touch techniques to keep you safe.Ìý You can go to our website as well to download tonight’s programme and other editions of In Touch.Ìý But producer, Kevin Core, and I thought you might welcome a chuckle after what has been, let’s face it, a tough week.Ìý We’ve followed the steady rise of blind comedian Chris McCausland on this programme and last Friday surely reached the pinnacle, starring in Radio 4’s The Now Show.Ìý Let’s end with his take on audio description, the technique of describing the action on films and TV programmes.Ìý It’s potentially annoying for people who can see and therefore don’t need it.

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The Now Show clip

But here’s something that might surprise ya – I find it annoying as well because the truth is it tells you way too much.Ìý Someone will go:

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See you later, bye. [Door closing]

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He closes the door.

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I’m not stupid, I know what a door sounds like.Ìý I don’t need you telling me every single thing that happens in the programme.

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[Door opening] Hello, my name’s Steve.

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He enters the room wearing a green t-shirt.

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Exactly how key to the plot is the colour of this t-shirt?Ìý Audio description isn’t new though, I first encountered it in the late ‘90s, it was an extra audio track on DVDs that you could select, so that if you were blind you could get a DVD, you could sit down and you could watch a film on your own.Ìý Brilliant, what a fantastic idea.Ìý The only trouble was though you needed to be able to see the menus to turn it on.