Senior officials from the Department for Infrastructure have gained first-hand insight into the daily challenges faced by disabled people navigating Belfast, thanks to Disability Equality Training facilitated by the Inclusive Mobility and Transport Advisory Committee (IMTAC). 

The training saw departmental managers spend half a day travelling around the city with a wheelchair user and individuals with sensory impairments, allowing them to directly experience the barriers encountered. 

Infrastructure Minister Liz Kimmins thanked IMTAC for providing the valuable session. "There is a lot of good work ongoing across both the Department for Infrastructure and Translink in this space but there is always room to do more," she said. "Inclusivity and putting people at the heart of everything we do is one of my department's 'Foundations for a Better Future' programme and that is why I have tasked my officials to consider what else can be done." 

The Minister emphasised the importance of such experiential learning. "When we talk about accessibility, we are talking about dignity, equality, and the ability to live without barriers. There is no substitute for actual lived experience and I want to thank everyone who was involved in facilitating this very important training." Barbara Fleming from IMTAC, who led one of the groups, highlighted the progress made in public transport accessibility over the past 26 years since she first became disabled, but stressed that challenges remain. 

"The difference now compared to 26 years ago when I was first disabled and trying to use public transport is worlds apart because I can move about almost the same as non-disabled people - but there is further work to be done in a number of areas, including societal attitudes and street furniture," Ms Fleming stated. 

She described the training's impact: "Today was important because it's a practical way of helping people to fully understand the experience of disabled people as we use public transport and navigate the city centre. It's one thing to be told the way it is but it's another thing to actually see it and experience the natural barriers that disabled people come across."

Ms Fleming added: "This training enables people to have a better understanding of what it is like for a disabled person. Everyone that takes part in training like this is important because people are not an island - they have family and friends - and hopefully they will talk with them about what they have seen. That's how we will change attitudes and hopefully the unpleasant situations that I come across get less and less."