Campaign seeks to bring about ‘Sea of Change’

An associate member of the Federation for the Blind is asking road safety professionals to support her campaign to highlight the challenges that shared space and informal road crossings pose to people with disabilities.

Sarah Gayton, from the ‘Sea of Change’ campaign, is planning to stage a film and audio festival in the Houses of Parliament on UN Day for the Disabled Person (3 December 2013). The festival will showcase how blind, partially sighted, blind/deaf and disabled people cross the road, in a bid to engage with stakeholders and inspire a change in road design.

Sarah Gayton said: “We are holding the festival in the Houses of Parliament and are also looking to use other events and social media to get the films and audio watched and listened to by as many key stakeholders as possible.”

The key issues behind the campaign were outlined in a BBC Radio 4 Intouch program broadcast earlier this year and in a short film created by Sarah and broadcast on YouTube.

Sarah added: “We are looking to engage with as many councils at all levels on this subject, as it is with their cooperation we will get the positive changes we are looking for in the design of roads, pavements and urban areas.

Sarah has produced a draft project plan which she is keen to share with road safety professionals in order to gather their comments and feedback. For a copy of the document, or for more information about the campaign, contact Sarah Gayton.