A Renfrew man has demanded more action to support disabled people in navigating the streets of their own communities.
Danny Taggart, who has set up a Facebook page called Renfrew Action on Mobility Issues, says countless buildings, kerbs and pathways in the town are problematic for people who rely on wheelchairs and electric scooters to get around.
The 63-year-old suffers from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and increasingly uses his scooter to travel into town.
But he frequently encounters problems such as cars parking on the pavement and in disabled spaces, overhanging trees, hedges blocking the paths and bins being left on the pathway.
And since establishing the Facebook page he has discovered many more people are facing the same challenges.
He said: “What I am finding is there are a lot of barricades in my way when I am trying to use a mobility scooter.
“I had put on a local Facebook page asking if anyone has encountered any of these mobility problems that I was coming across and I got a quick response from a fair few people.
“It is little daft things that people who aren’t struggling with their mobility wouldn’t notice like the camber of the paths, the state of the paths and getting access to the shops due to the state of the high kerbs.
“In all honesty, it is things that even I didn’t even see before I had to use a scooter.
“Really it is just a plea for a little bit more courtesy towards people who rely on scooters and wheelchairs and make it as safe as possible to get from A to B, as well as being able to go about leading a normal a life as much as possible.”
Danny has also compiled a report and sent it to Renfrewshire Council which highlights the issues facing less mobile people, as well as suggestions on how to make improvements to the area.
The report also recommended an electrical charging station be installed in Renfrew town centre for people who use buggies and scooters.
A spokesperson for Renfrewshire Council said: “The Disability Discrimination Acts 1995 and 2005 require employers, shops, councils and schools to make reasonable adjustments to make sure people with disabilities can access the same buildings and services, as far as this is possible, as someone who isn’t disabled.
“Our planning, roads and building standards departments monitor and assess the effect, or the likely impact, of our policies and practices on people with disabilities.
“Building standards regulations also require new properties to have convenient and unassisted access.
“Dropped kerbs are a standard feature at most junctions.
“We recognise that older roads sometimes don’t have the number of dropped kerbs that we would expect
today.
“We can’t deal with them all at once, but we accept requests from members of the public who may be having difficulties because of missing dropped kerbs on specific wheeling
trips.
“A range of adaptations are available for homes and access to public buildings often includes ramps and power-assisted doors with wheelchair accessible controls.”
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