Tom is recently returned from Dublin where he joined protests over the controversial Disability Act which proved so unpopular with the disabled and the groups representing disabilities.
Tom will be lobbying authorities such as Westport Town Council to deliver on their undertakings under the Barcelona Declaration. Tom is dismayed that local authorities could find themselves receiving fines for not complying with Minister O'Cuiv's new dictates concerning the use of Irish but if they don't comply with disability law there is little or nothing done unless someone has the time and money to take them to court. Tom says "In the UK the situation is very different, local authorities and places who provide disabled parking can be fined if they let able-bodied motorists abuse the car parking spaces. It is a requirement under law that disabled bays be monitored and if the monitoring is not up to scratch a local authority or supermarket can find itself facing a fine and a day in court. This has lead to increased awareness of the issue in the UK and shops like Tesco, Aldi and the like hold competitions to see who supplies the best services to the disabled. Compare that with the way things are over here."
On the local level Tom is looking at ways to improve monitoring of parking spaces as well as the improvement of existing spaces in places like Westport "as the number of parking bays for the disabled has exploded in the last year Tom feels that it is a case of quantity not quality as some of the bays have proven themselves completely unacceptable to disabled drivers and passengers be they in wheel-chairs, walking with an aid or suffer sight or hearing problems."
Tom also takes issue with the car parking charges and toilets pointing our that "under existing guidelines and legislation those with a disabled badge are not required to pay for parking in a disabled bay but no provision for this service has been made. Tom finds the electronic toilets, like those in Westport, which are so common nowadays, are not very disabled friendly and people with disabilities like Tom would not be able to use these toilets without some sort of assistance. "No provision has been made to accommodate the disabled who are supposed to be able to use such a facility."
1 comment:
Keep up the good work Tom, great to see the blog up and running
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