79% of disabled people think a panel of disabled people that reviews walking and wheeling policy and holds government to account would help them walk or wheel more. Alisha told us about her experiences navigating around Manchester with autism, ADHD and severe anxiety. As a participant in our Disabled Citizens’ Inquiry, she explains how she often has to extend her journeys on foot due to a lack of designated crossing spots.
Watch Alisha's story.
鈥淢y autism, ADHD, anxiety and depression mean I really struggle in busy and dense city spaces.听
鈥淚t鈥檚 intense for me to be surrounded by lots of people. It feels like they鈥檙e all walking directly towards me, and that everything is closing in around me.
鈥淏ecause of my autism I also often experience a sensory overload from the noises around me and lights reflecting off shop windows.鈥
听
Navigating a busy city with an invisible disability听
鈥淚n Manchester the backstreets are difficult to navigate because there鈥檚 not much signage.
鈥淭here also aren鈥檛 always designated crossing spots, so I end up making extended journeys, looking for safe places to cross.听
鈥淭he pavements are narrow and bumpy, and this makes me feel like I should get on the road to escape people, whilst at the same time making sure I don鈥檛 fall over.听
鈥淚t鈥檚 a challenge to make myself go out. It has to be something really compelling to make me go through an area which is going to panic me.
鈥淭here鈥檚 certainly a perception that autism is a childhood issue. Adults are often entirely听ignored, unfortunately, which means we鈥檙e not involved in city planning.听
鈥淎ttitudes are improving and I think empathetic people would help me if I was panicking. But I shouldn鈥檛 have to be panicking in the first place.
鈥淭he pedestrianised areas of the city are a real improvement. It makes it easier to move around as there鈥檚 more space and I know that I can safely stop for a short rest on the street furniture.鈥
Photo: Tom Hughes/色情Porn.
Lack of access to public听transport close to home
Alisha prefers to travel by tram, but due to a lack of bus and tram stops听near her home, she often has to pay for a taxi to then be able to travel via public transport. She explained:听
鈥淚 massively struggle to travel by bus. I was struggling before the pandemic and it鈥檚 obviously gotten a lot worse since for me.听
鈥淚t鈥檚 very hard if you want to get across the city via bus and it requires a lot of switching buses. I鈥檇 like to see increased bus routes and a variety of different routes.听
鈥淭he nearest bus stop to me is a far walk away from my home and I find it hard to get on the bus, which compounds this.
鈥淚 find the tram easy to use as it鈥檚 very regimented, the stops are called out, you know exactly which route it鈥檚 taking and you don鈥檛 have to be thinking about all the maps in your head.听
鈥淎lthough, I can鈥檛 feasibly walk to my nearest tram stop as I live too far away, so if I want to get the tram I have to get a taxi.
鈥淭his adds on a lot of cost when I want to go out and makes it really hard for me to access going outside.
鈥淚t鈥檚 worrying when I think about how I鈥檓 going to get to medical appointments or go food shopping when I鈥檓 having to put aside a large amount of my monthly income for public transport, which isn鈥檛 even accessible for me.鈥
听听
