World Arthritis Day, a reflection.

Over 10 million people globally live in pain due to some form of Arthritis, 15 000 of whom are children.

On Thursday the 12th of October, millions of people around the world came together to raise awareness and raise funds for further research into Arthritis, as well as how we as a society can better support those with symptoms of the condition.

At Hand 2 Help, we focused our campaign on encouraging discussions with people in our community as to how Australian’s may provide assistance on public transport. The NSW State Government in Australia has spent the last decade investing heavily in the upgrading of public transport infrastructure with a focus on better accommodating to those with dexterity and mobility related limitations.

This development has enabled thousands of people to access and new standard of living and level of freedom, however there is still opportunity for members of the community to better engage and support these people. This year, organizations such as World Arthritis Day and Arthritis Australia hosted many of the following:

• Picnic and meet ups for family members of those affected
• Social media campaigns aiming to raise awareness and recognition
• News articles detailing the personal experiences of those who experience Arthritis related pain on a daily basis

Above all else though, this year has been about connecting and asking people to #connecttoday with all those affected by Arthritis and in a position to help. With the amount of progress that has been made over the past week, and the amount of conversations we here at Hand 2 Help have had, its also important to reflect on what you can do more to #help your community whilst traveling each day.

With one day to go, how are you going to spread the message?

Tomorrow, Thursday the 12th of October, is World Arthritis Day. This annual event globally recognises the struggle that millions of people around the world face each day, as well as what we can do as a society to better support and solve these challenges. This year, Hand 2 Help is taking this opportunity to try and highlight the opportunities present within Australia to better cater for those with dexterity and mobility limitations of public transport. Whilst the state and federal governments have invested heavily over the past decade in upgrading our infrastructure, as discussed in previous blog posts, there is a lot to be done as far as awareness and recognition within our communities.

Over the past several weeks, Hand 2 Help has aimed to educate, inform and motivate our readers to think critically about their daily commute, and how small gestures and conversations can profoundly impact the experience of others. We have received fantastic responses and replies to our content which have inspired us to work alongside our State Government (NSW) in potentially rolling out a campaign in the near future focusing on how train conductors may better engage with passengers to motivate them to assist when necessary (more to come, so watch out!).

As World Arthritis Day is only 24 hours away, we challenge you to not only read and understand the message, but share it with your friends and families as well. A more educated and aware society is one which will ultimately function better for everyone, and this is a huge part of the process. Comment below some of your experiences, stories and how you plan to share the message this #worldarthritisday, and get ready for tomorrow! #help

New Innovative Initiatives.

As part of our research at Hand 2 Help, we keep our eyes open for other good, innovative initiatives around the world. This is part of our desire to see things improve for those struggling with mobility related limitations.

Today’s post looks at two recent ideas which we think are great. The first of these is uberASSIST, which enables those with accessibility related needs to call for private transport via an app. By also specifically training the drivers and allowing service dogs on board the cars, this reduces the number of barriers that many Australians face in trying to live their lives. Launched initially in Australia in 2005, uberASSIST has already had a profound impact within several countries globally. By digitally disrupting the stagnant and slow moving private taxi industry in Australia, uberASSIST has democratised our ability to support each other and our needs as a community and society.

Our second Australian innovation that aims to better cater for those often underrepresented within society is Companion Care Gardening, run by Linda Burrell. She describes herself as a “passionate gardener with  years of experience in health, rehabilitation, wellbeing and aged care as well as qualifications in tree care & maintenance.”  Through CCG, Linda has been able to better support those who are no longer able to pursue their passions in the garden, whilst also connecting people often isolated in the community with those keen to help with their hands and hearts.

We are aiming to ask some questions of Linda in the coming weeks so if you have anything you would like asked comment below! If you are yet to hear of CCG, you are welcome to visit their website in the link below:

https://www.companioncaregardening.com.au/

What you can do this 12th of October for #WorldArthritisDay

Each year World Arthritis Day aims to raise awareness and acknowledge those who suffer from a variety of debilitating joint and bone diseases around the globe. This year however there will be a specific focus on rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases (RMDs), as stated by World Arthritis Day on their website:

“This year’s theme for World Arthritis Day is ‘It’s in your hands, take action’. Our aim is to raise awareness of rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases (RMDs) and to encourage people with RMDs, their carers, families and the general public to seize every opportunity to take action and make a difference to the quality of life of people with RMDs.”

This notion of taking responsibility and action when needed relates to what we aim to do here at Hand 2 Help. Not only is it necessary to inform each other about the opportunities for better research and support for those who have RMDs in our community, but it is vital that we also contribute to the solution is a society.

In the lead up to World Arthritis Day 2018, Hand 2 Help will run a campaign around to encourage support for those in need, specifically on public transport. This will ultimately conclude with a challenge on the 12th of October to perform one act of kindness and support to someone else, and you can share this back with Hand 2 Help via our Facebook, Twitter or WordPress site. If everyone in your circle of friends were to do this, compassion and understanding will increase.

Keep and eye out on our pages over the coming week to find out how you can #help!

The Silent Majority

So often, too often, we think of disability and mobility issues as affecting only a small sector of the population. As such, it is easy to turn a blind eye to the inequalities that persons with disabilities face every day. However, the facts on disability highlight the scope and magnitude of the issues that affect all of our community.

Approximately one in five Australians have some form of disability.

This means it is likely that you or someone you know struggles with mobility issues. In February this year, videos and reports of the barriers persons with disabilities face in accessing public transport in New South Wales surfaced. These videos show a double amputee crawling up a flight of stairs, with commuters not stopping to help.

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/transport-minister-gladys-berejiklian-distressed-over-footage-of-double-amputee-crawling-up-train-station-stairs-20150217-13hmpx

It is extremely distressing to see these videos, and to think how easily that could be a person you love and care about. Would you not want someone to extend a hand to help that person?

Gladys Berejiklian, NSW transport minister, expressed her distress and concern at these reports.

“It’s distressing to see anyone in the community struggle to access public transport – whether they’re elderly, customers with a disability or families with prams,” Ms Berejiklian said.

“I want to see every station on the network accessible with ramps or lifts and that’s why, since coming to government, we have worked hard to upgrade stations as part of the Transport Access Program.

“When we came to government, nearly two-thirds of all stations on the network were not accessible via ramps or lifts.”

It is wonderful to see that real change is being implemented in our community. Normative change is likely to flow from such legislative, governmental and doctrinal attempts at real reform. However, the videos of persons with disabilities struggling at Unaderra train station are extremely distressing, due in large part that so few people stopped to help.

Don’t be that person who looks away and does nothing. Be the change. #Hand2Help. #Help.

 

Review of the Disability Standards for Accessible Public Transport: Part 2

The introduction of the Disability Standards for Accessible Public Transport 2002 (Transport Standards), with a review mechanism in Part 34, was an essential step in ensuring that public transport in Australia is comfortable, accessible and safe for all members of our community. See our previous post for a summary of these changes. However, the effectiveness of the governmental and legislative response to the five year reviews, conducted in 2007 and 2012 are questionable. Our findings are detailed below.

       a) The Timeliness of Amendments: An Unacceptable Delay

Although the review was conducted in 2012, the final report was not released until 10 July 2015. This is an unacceptable delay in ensuring compliance with Schedule 1. Australian buses experience more than roughly 210 serious injuries per year and annually, 12 people are injured boarding ferries. On average 5 people die nationally per year as a result of accidents on public trains.

Additionally, although the development of: The Whole Journey: A guide for thinking beyond compliance to create accessible public transport journeys was an excellent step forward in ensuring all people have a travel experience that is cost effective, efficient, comfortable and accessible, consultation on the draft guide only commenced in early February 2017.

Thus, although efforts are admirable, the delay in achieving actual change is extremely concerning. 

       b) A progressive step: paving the road for current and future needs

Perhaps the most important part of the findings of the reviews was their emphasis on the whole infrastructure community working towards accessible, comfortable, and cost effective public transport for all Australians. Here at Hand2Help, we aim to encourage every person in the community to make an active effort to ensure the safety of all persons on public transport. We commend the latter change, but hope that the findings of the review in 2019 will be implemented with much greater expediency.

Be the change. #H2H. #help.

Review of the Disability Standards for Accessible Public Transport: Part 1

Part 34 of the Disability Standards for Accessible Public Transport 2002 (Transport Standards) requires a review be undertaken every five years of the efficiency and effectiveness of public transport in Australia by the Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development, in consultation with the Attorney-General’s Department, the Accessible Public Transport Jurisdictional Committee, the Accessible Public Transport National Advisory Committee and the Aviation Access Forum.

The scope of this review relates to assessing whether discrimination has been removed according to the requirements enshrined in Schedule 1 of the Transport Standards, and advise on necessary amendments. Specifically, a focus on reporting the experience of persons with disabilities is paramount to ensuring that there is compliance with Schedule 1 requirements. Those are as follows:

The 2012 Review

The major recommendations of the 2012 review are as follows:

1. Modernisation of the Disability Standards for Accessible Public Transport 2002 (Transport Standards)

The 2012 review recognised that the Transport Standards holistically fails to meet the current and future needs of persons with disabilities. The rapidity of change to and modernisation of Australia’s public transport networks must be mirrored by a continual updating of the Transport Standards to ensure that providers and operators of public transport are able to meet their obligations under the Disability Discrimination Act.

2. Development of: The Whole Journey: A guide for thinking beyond compliance to create accessible public transport journeys

The development of the aforementioned relates to encouraging policy makers, planners, designers, builders, certifiers and operators to consider the current and future accessibility needs of all persons across their whole journey on Australia’s public transport. This aims to ensure all people have a travel experience that is cost effective, efficient, comfortable and accessible.

Although such efforts to ensure that discrimination is not present on our public transport are admirable, stay tuned for our next post which will analyse whether such reforms are in fact effective.

 

Be the change. #H2H.

Tap On

“Bus drivers may not be able to help you board the bus, but they are encouraged to make your trip as comfortable as possible. Please let them know if you require help at any stage and they will do their best to assist you. Make sure you sit somewhere where you can see and hear the driver during the trip.”​​​​​ – NSW PUBLIC TRANSPORT

It’s not often the NSW Public Transport Authority posts information antithetical to codified human rights standards in Australia.

Encouragement

What does this encouragement entail? Does this mean that all people are encouraged to assist those with mobility issues? Or will the NSW Public Transport Authority recognise that these instructions are antithetical to the social model of disability enshrined in both the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and Disability Discrimination Act 1992?

Those conventions reflect the understanding that disability is not a self-defined, static category of status. Disability should be distinguished from impairment. Impairment gives rise to disability, but disability itself is defined by the society that it exists in.

What this means for you is that in order for disability to not be stigmatised, persons with disabilities should not be viewed as an inconvenience that persons are ‘encouraged’ to help.

This is not a choice. It is never a choice to deprive a person of their fundamental human rights.

Comfort

For the above reasons, public transport for persons with disabilities is rarely ‘comfortable’. Rather, it is dominated by feelings of fear and anxiety: Of getting in the way, of becoming injured, of not being able to reach home or a designation

Choosing a Seat Near the Front 

Society must accommodate persons with disabilities, persons with disabilities do not have to accommodate society. This standard is completely undermined by explicit instructions that persons with disabilities must take responsibility for their own autonomy and safety. When persons cannot sit on a bus, as we have learnt, there is no equality.

NSW Public Transport needs to do better. We all need to do better.

Be the change. #Hand2Help

When Someone Falls.

So often when we see someone injure themselves, we look around to see who else could help them. Particularly when we are on public transport and there are many people around, we often seek out those who will step up and assist.

It’s an instinctive response. We see it in the movies; the brave hero calling out to the crowd: “Someone call 000!”.

It is important not to panic in these situations, and getting the assistance of those around you can often be difficult. If there’s an emergency, it is important to single out a person in the crowd to make that call. Try saying something like “You – in the white shirt with the red cap – call triple zero – it’s an emergency!” A statement like this encourages people to take responsibility.

Similarly, if you encounter a person who’s fallen, it’s important that you call emergency services and their next of kin straight away. Do not try to move them. If a person is lying on their stomach, support their spine and neck while you move them onto their side to ensure they can breathe.

In these instances, it is important you stay calm, assure the person that help is coming and practice empathy. Falling can be traumatic and people with limited mobility can develop fears of falling, so you may be the difference between ensuring that a person knows that help is coming and them developing a life-long fear.

What it feels like to fall.

You are a shadow of what you once were. You feel isolated and alone. You can’t call either of your children – you’ve already needed help twice today in mowing the lawn and turning the sprinklers off. Your hands get extremely stiff in the cold weather and make it so difficult to turn the brass handle that seems to slip through your fingers no matter how tight you hold it.

For many elderly people, aging means more than a lot of birthday celebrations. It’s losing the ability to be independent, the ability to get through the day without having to rely on your friends or children. It’s worrying that when you call them, they hesitate to pick up because they know you will need help again and are becoming tired of the unwanted distraction from their own lives and families.

If more people in the community help Patrick with his daily activities – just the small things – it makes the biggest difference to Patrick, the people in his lives, and how he feels about himself.

Help Patrick. Help him release the burden. Because one day, you may well become just like Patrick. You may need someone too.