On 7th
November 2012 I was photographed next to the shared space of Exhibition
Road. The timing of the picture was when
no moving traffic was around in order that the paving layout could be shown in
the photograph.
Later, I had an opportunity
to discuss this with someone from Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
(RBKC) who was on an exhibition stand at Sight Village in Kensington Town
Hall. We exchanged views and I know that
at least one other visually impaired person (another cane user) has complained
of the diagonal pattern on the shared space paving.
I find that when
crossing the Exhibition Road, my peripheral vision is ‘confused’ with the
diverging white lines which drift into the extreme limits of my field of
view. This really clouds out any ability
to detect moving traffic. I don’t think
this was fully appreciated by whoever designed this pattern for Exhibition
Road.
The person from
RBKC said drivers of cars were forced to realise that they were no longer in a
normal road environment with the appearance the white diagonal grids.
I’m personally
not convinced by this as many experiments are done on motorways with road
markings in an effort to cut speed.
Drivers still exceed 90 mph on a 70 mph motorway. I have no idea how rigorously drivers who use
Exhibition Road stick to the speed limit.
I had a Twitter
exchange with Alastair Somerville (@acuity_design) on this and it’s copied
below.
ProfWhitestick
Alastair Somerville
.
ProfWhitestick
Alastair Somerville
.
ProfWhitestick
Alastair
Somerville
*** end of upate
9 October 2012
Introduction
Shared Space
is a concept where all traffic - vehicular, bicycles and pedestrians - is
allowed to interact in one common shared space.
An example of this is Exhibition Road in London, an area frequently
visited for the many fine museums. Access
is from South Kensington Underground and its connecting tunnels.
I have heard
a lot about shared space and have made inputs through the usual channels, as
well as sharing comments through Twitter with other twitter contacts. I can often be found exchanging tweets with
@Acuity_Design and with @Pellegrino5. I
have also been in touch with James White from GuideDogs and some links are on
this post. I have described the journey
through the tunnel to the Victoria and Albert Museum (http://profwhitestick.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/ceramic-tiles-yellow-stove-of-von.html).
My first
experience of the shared space itself was when I walked along Exhibition Road
and noted the corduroy tactile indicating the end of the pedestrian zone. I walked so far up and passed the other
V&A entrance and turned to face the road itself. I could make out diagonal paving lines (presumably
for decoration for those looking down from a ‘plane), which I found distracting
and really did not know what to make of them at street level. They could be misunderstood as a safe way to
cross.
Many of the
pedestrians were too busy in groups and I waited for silence, relatively, from
the road and stepped into the road. I
could make out cars, taxis and bikes travelling up and down. I crossed the road, coming across parked cars
and bike racks and walked back in the direction of South Kensington Tube
Station. I found the tunnel and passed a
museum which I took to be the old geology museum and the corner of the Natural
History Museum. I had returned home by
getting my bearings and sense of direction from the tunnel’s direction and then
with the help of the London Underground.
After my
visit to the V&A in October, I decided to explore Exhibition Road further
and left the V&A in Cromwell Road and turned right, up Exhibition
Road. I noted the other entrance to the
V&A and thought I could make out the courtyard where I had had a
coffee. I followed the pedestrian zone
and felt a heavy studded tactile indicating a road at right angles. I assumed this was a service road and crossed
it, walking up Exhibition Road to where I thought the Science Museum was. I crossed the road, took an obvious wrong
turning (in retrospect and with hindsight- daft concepts for visually
impaired!) and entered a building which was in fact Imperial College.
They were
kind enough to tell me where the Science Museum was and I crossed another
service road, studded tactiles, and thought I could make out a tunnel
entrance. At this point a teacher
leading a group of schoolchildren shouted to her charges “Careful, there is a blind
man here!” I asked if she knew where the entrance was and
she replied that I was at the Science Museum Staff Entrance and that the
entrance was “round the corner”. Again, with hindsight, she really meant that
the entrance for school groups was round the corner but I went past this and
again ended up in another part of Imperial College.
I was told to
go back and turn right at a statue (“you can’t miss it”) and the entrance was
further down the road. Funnily enough my
knowledge of a piece of Tony Cragge sculpture stood me in good stead and I
found the entrance to the Science Museum.
On entering,
I asked a guard for assistance and was taken to the information desk. I asked what there was for a visually
impaired visitor like me and was not impressed by what happened next. (Again, with hindsight perhaps I should have
informed them that I was coming and asked if they had special events.) I stood my ground and insisted on speaking to
someone.
Other people
were being given instructions for the Watson and Crick model of DNA and they
hadn’t booked in advance. After lots of phone calls someone from “Front of
House” came down to speak to me. I was told that I ought to have made prior
arrangements and that I was engaging with a Front of house Staff team who “had
not been trained in dealing with visually impaired people”. I was determined
that I was not going to go away empty handed and insisted being taken to the
Watson and Crick model and a MRI scanner.
This was duly done but, I felt, grudgingly. Again, I was told to contact Nicola Dee prose (who was out
at lunch).
I saw the DNA
model and the object label was read to me. The MRI scanner was also done. In passing some displays beside a car I asked
what it was and found, to my delight, that it was a display about Perkins
discovery of the synthesis of alizarin and other pigments, dyes and the
founding of the modern organic chemical industry. By now I was engaged with someone “who had
not been trained” and also saw the Ripley Manuscript on Alchemy (it is shorter
than Jack Kerouac manuscript of On the Road in the British Library- that is
another story.)
I was helped
to find the accessible facilities and had a coffee and a muffin in the coffee
shop. As I made my way out, I was
surprised to pass several audio sets or audiovisual displays – and puzzled that
no one had thought to mention them to me.
An
opportunity to engage further that day or even in the future was lost and I
felt some sadness that such a science institution should be so Neanderthal in
“handling” disability.
What a
disappointing visit and rather a disgrace to the Science and Technology
Sector. I first visited this museum in
1969, but it seems that in 2012 there was no enlightenment, no science, no
wonder and no encouragement. I did get a
few contact names written down on a piece of paper which I have just
located. (They were put in the back pocket
of my trousers and thus absent for a while.) I am sure I left my name and email
address, but to date have heard nothing.
Natural History Museum
I asked for
assistance at the main desk and the person stood up and called for a staff
member. I was invited to sit for a few
minutes and Frances appeared shortly after with a friendly greeting of “How
much time have you got?” I had never
been here before, so I had a short introduction and I found myself wanting to
see the dinosaurs. Why not?
Frances took
me through the geology section and after I explained I had studied one year of
geology, read out a few labels which sounded interesting. We passed through an area with many tactile
models known as Final Impressions and there are many objects to touch, not only
for the visually impaired. There are
fossils and I told Frances of my childhood visit to the Royal Scottish Museum
with a selection of ammonites. Frances duly
found some.
In reaching
the Central Hall, cathedral like, of the museum I could appreciate it from the
inside. In the 1970s I had driven past
it at night when it was floodlit. In the
dinosaur area I was able to walk around and Frances said if the object was not
behind glass it could usually be touched.
We clambered up the equivalent of a tree tops walkway and passed the
model of the Tyrannosaurus Rex.
On the way
back for the main exit I asked to see their early hominids and was taken
upstairs. I was helped in the shop and
given the times of audio visual shows.
If I had wanted they could take me on after such a show. This approach is not spoon feeding but making
an obvious link by the institution. Frances took me out to the Cromwell Road
exit and indicated by instruction a ramp to the tunnel entrance.
Summary:
With the
Natural History Museum, I may have been lucky in the timing as it was around
3pm. Since my visit I have heard that
some complaints about access for visually impaired people had been made.
Regarding
shared space:
The idea of
crossing this road must put off many visually impaired visitors to some
museums. An unintended consequence and what should all stake holders do?
James White
of Guide Dogs has sent me links for the Exhibition Road and their
campaign.
More information on the Streets Ahead campaign can be found on:
http://www.guidedogs.org.uk/
With regards to Exhibition Road, this news article gives a good overview:
http://www.guidedogs.org.uk/
With regards to Exhibition Road, this news article gives a good overview:
