Comment: It's 2017 - let's get Jersey accessible!

Thursday 05 October 2017

Jersey might be home to some beautiful old buildings – but is it right that our ties to old architecture trump the needs of the citizens calling for wheelchair friendliness?

In the next of our series of opinion columns, disabled rights campaigner Melissa Alves turns to the question of when Jersey will truly become accessible to all…

"If you put yourself in someone else’s shoes, just in that moment you will realise the struggles that they face on a daily basis.

Only a handful of places are accessible for all in Jersey. It can be a very big struggle for people with reduced mobility, that use crutches or wheelchairs, people with babies, trying to access a building with a step in the entrance or a building that doesn't have lifts.

This is the 21st century. Why can’t we all access the same places, do the same things? 

Pictured: In 2017, should it really be so hard to incorporate accessibility into our thinking? Melissa doesn't think so.

I need my wheelchair to walk – that’s my way of accessing places. So why can’t you make your business easier for me to access? I say ‘me’, but there are a number of people in the same situation.

Old buildings, new buildings, shops, pavements, steps, entrances, lifts, heavy doors – these are just a few of the things that I struggle with on a daily basis. 

A number of times I get told, “We can’t do anything about that, sorry.” But why? What’s the real reason? If a city or island can build a number of new buildings, I’m sure they can improve old ones, right?

I sometimes get comments to go to another pavement or, if there is a hole in the middle of the way I’m going, I’m told to try and avoid it. Why should I avoid these issues instead of raising the issue and possibly getting it fixed?

Sometimes I put myself in a mind-set of a six-year-old in a wheelchair: they love going at full speed down a hill - I know when I was little I was the same. Imagine there being a hole in the middle of the way or a drain that's not facing the right way - would they avoid it going at full speed? No, they wouldn't! 

If you’re wanting to start a business, think about these things. Make life easier for yourself and others.

Pictured: Some businesses make customers who cannot access the premises wait outside and ring a doorbell - and this isn't true accessibility, Melissa says.

Many times I avoid shops and buildings that I would love to go in because of accessibility problems. It's not fair that I and many people in the island can't access everything that we want.

I have recently seen a new way of creating 'accessibility' in Jersey: having the same step in the entrance, but with a doorbell to get access to that same building. I'm sure the owners didn't mean any harm and are trying help, but please don't put a door bell on the entrance. Get the step removed. 

I won't be ringing a doorbell for access to a building while there are people accessing the building themselves. It's not the nicest feeling in the world having to wait at the door while everyone is going in and out of the building. 

If I ask to change an entrance to a building, I'm not asking to change the building itself so it will never lose its 'history', it is just being made accessible.

Please think about removing huge steps and including lifts to buildings."