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The US Access Board is an independent Federal agency devoted to accessibility for
people with disabilities.
Created in 1973 to ensure access to federally funded facilities, the Board is now a
leading source of information on accessible design.
The Board develops and maintains design criteria for the built environment, transit
vehicles, telecommunications equipment, and for electronic and information technology.
It also provides technical assistance and training on these requirements and on
accessible design and continues to enforce accessibility standards that
cover federally funded facilities.
The board meets 5 times a year in Washington DC, but to ensure that they are staying
in touch with public needs, they meet once a year in cities throughout the country.
In 2009, they met in Boston.
"We heard a lot from the public here in Boston about the issues that they face.
Transportation issues.
A lot of brick issues.
But then we also went and experienced things.
We went to WGBH to learn about how they do captioning and audio description.
Web accessibility, technology about text-to-text communication.
We then went to the Carroll Center for the Blind to learn more about orientation and
mobility techniques.
Technology that people with visual impairments use to become more independent.
We even had a little fencing demonstration.
Which was very interesting.
Then after that we went to an acoustical consulting company called Essentech.
Because one of the issues that we are working on is acoustics in classrooms to provide as
better learning experience for kids with hearing impairments, but really for everyone.
Today we did a townhall event we wanted to have an open microphone to hear from the
public.
We did two of those sessions.
Great.
Really good feedback.
And then we did panel discussions on design education because one of the
things that we are trying to do is to infuse accessibility into the curriculum of
colleges and universities.
We had fabulous speakers from the Boston Architecual College.
They were fabulous.
And then we had another panel on museum exhibit design because one of the things
we've learn3ed is that our accessability guidelines, ADAG, addresses pretty well
the built environment but does a less good job for communication access, people
with vision impairments, with hearing impairments.
And accessing information.
So we've seen a lack of accessibility to museums.
So we had a panel discussion on museum design and had folks from the Boston Science Center
and Planetarium.
They were great.
It's hearing from the public about their concerns and also learning from experts in the
panel discussions that help the board create policy and make recommendations.
In Boston, the board had the added benefit of getting out of their hotel and "riding the
rails" - that is they rode the T - Boston's mass transit system to see how improvements
to that system are being made to make it more accessible.
Gary Talbot is the MBTA's assistant general manager.
Gary Talbot: One of the things, there are so many things that we wanted to try
to show you, but let me just explain a couple of issues that we struggle with on a
daily basis.
One of them is effective communication.
This is a multi-modal station that has a lot of stuff going on and you'll see that in a
moment.
We have commuter rail that we're gonna go out on.
We have the Acella high speed train that is at the same series of tracks.
We have the regular AmTrak that use the same series of tracks.
We have Red line that's here.
We have Silver line that's here.
And we have over the road buses like Peter Pan and Grey Hound.
We also have our fixed route buses that stop here.
Now we don't announce those bus stops but everything else has to get announced.
So we have PA that's going on right now - very difficult to understand.
We have message boards - there's a big one right in the center that I hope everyone
will see before we get on our train.
That's like our main message board in text.
Then we do our audio.
Then we have our message boards out on the track.
One of the things with commuter rail that's so confusing for folks is that
they don't tell you until right before you're gonna board what track you're on.
And you may ride the Franklin line everyday and all of the sudden it's just gonna be on a
different track.
And you won't know that until a minute before they are ready to board and then they only
board for three to five minutes.
So it's a real stressful thing.
Now people who are good at it and I've watched them over my two years - it's not a big
deal.
But if you're new of town, if you have a disability, if you have a vision impairment, if
your deaf - oh my God, it is a big deal.
So that's one thing that we wanted to try and share here.
These are some of the complexities and difficulties we face.
After a briefing at one of the T's main stations, the board set out to actually ride the
many different modes of public transport.
MUSIC.
Gary Talbot: You're gonna see two styles of cars.
One is our type 7, that's our older style car.
That's the high platform car that has three steps to get up it.
You can't do a high platform - oh that's a type 7.
And when you see the steps you'll see what I mean.
You can't just build the platform up because people will knock themselves out
going in the opening.
You need the steps to get your head underneath the opening.
Now the new type 8 car is a low floor car - right behind it.
But the type 8 car needs eight inches higher of platform than just the regular street level.
So if we don't have the eight inches we can't deploy the ramp on the type 8 car.
This is a trolley d=car system that's used out in the streets.
Cars have to be able to drive over the tracks.
So for all of our stops where we have to stop in the middle of the street - which we do -
we can't build the surface up eight inches because cars couldn't get over it.
Those stops are a real dilemma because we can't build up the asphalt, there's no way we can
deploy those ramps, and at a couple of places we use mobile lifts.
The mobile lifts are typically used f or the type 7 car.
Boston is just one of the many metropolitan areas in the US that have issues today with
their mass transit systems.
Accessibility for all riders needs to be a top priority.
Rider: We are all entitled to equal rights.
We all have the same civil rights in this country and everyone is entitled to use
public transportation.
I'm a member of the public For more information on the access board you can visit
www.access-board.gov.
And if you get a chance to participate in one of their public forums, make sure that
you do.
It's a great experience.