Eye Matter Campaign

Wednesday 27 August 08

Access to information campaign, on the right track?
As Eye Matter campaign to be given the same information as their sighted counterparts at the same time. I ask, "Is the campaign roaring forward like a locomotive, or running off the rails"?

Eye Matter is a group of both visually impaired and sighted young people who campaign on issues that they feel are important to their lives. We launched our first campaign in January 2008. We decided to focus on access to information". Clearly, we cannot get every newspaper in large print and every magazine in audio format in the space of four months. We therefore decided to focus on getting transport information in accessible formats.

Translink were of course our first port of call. Their website is more difficult to negotiate than a deal in the Dragons Den, especially for those who use screen reading software. Their time tables can be requested in alternative formats, but arrive later than your average number 10 bus. Once you finally manage to get on your train you often find the audio announcements switched off or announcing the wrong stops.

Members of Eye Matter then met with Terry Butler to discuss these issues. Terry is the Disability Access manager at Translink and of course his support would be needed for real progress to be made. This wasn't a pot shot taking exercise, as the group also had some simple solutions to these problems. With the trio who were to meet Terry ready for some resistance, the meeting took place.

The groups suggestions were readily taken on board and we were even told that Terry himself had raised these issues with various departments. Surely then things would change with a Disability Access manager backing the campaign. Well, not quite. Two months on and some of the timetables we requested in alternative formats hadn't arrived. People are still hearing the train is in Lisburn and then step off in Larne and the website remains as inaccessible as ever.

Has then this campaign been derailed? I don't think so; Translink did send consultation documents to Eye Matter members on the design of new trains and the members are still determined to resolve some of the issues that remain barriers for their access to information.

So while the campaign isn't speeding along like the Eurostar, it hasn't yet come off the track. It's merely being held up at a level crossing.