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Disabled people invited to share their experiences and suggestions to make transport more accessible
Thursday 29 June 2023
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The National Centre for Accessible Transport (NCAT) is inviting disabled people to help shape the future of accessibility in transport.
NCAT is encouraging people to join its newly established Community of Accessible Transport (CAT) pan-disability panel.
NCAT is a £20 million project funded by Motability, the charity, and led by Professor Paul Herriotts of the National Transport Design Centre at Coventry University. The national centre aims to make transport accessible for all by working directly with disabled people to better understand their experiences, co-design solutions and influence policy.
The centre has launched the Community of Accessible Transport panel to encourage disabled people to join and share their experiences of transport, and make suggestions via questionnaires, interviews, surveys, and focus groups, alongside working with a consortium of six organisations.
The feedback provided by the CAT panel will be used to lead the work of NCAT by shaping its research activity and delivering important insights for the transport sector.
Transport plays a vital role in quality of life for all people, yet disabled people experience so many different challenges when trying to access adequate transport. Ensuring our voices are heard is extremely important as our lived experiences can help influence design, technology, policy, and infrastructure.
Stephanie McPherson-Brown, transport user
Disabled people are the ultimate experts in accessible transport.
By creating this panel, we are placing essential lived experiences at the very heart of everything NCAT does. There is nothing we can create or put in place without the thorough testing and input of this panel. Through our 50 years of research with disabled people, we know that creativity, resilience, and collaboration is often used to overcome daily challenges, and we look forward to harnessing these skills in our work together on the CAT panel.
Gordon McCullough, CEO of Research Institute for Disabled Consumers
We invite disabled people to our panel, and we welcome their input, whatever their disabled experience, to help shape the future of accessible transport in the UK, as we strive to close the existing accessibility gap.
Paul Herriotts, Director of the National Centre for Accessible Transport, Coventry University
For any disabled people interested in joining the CAT panel, visit the NCAT website.
