Over the last two decades, along with Poland’s civilizational development and the achievement of European standards, an increase in interest in the problems of people with disabilities can be observed. This interest is manifested in many aspects, such as, for example:
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legislative and systemic solutions – legally regulated vocational and social rehabilitation, activities of state institutions, such as the Government Plenipotentiary for Disabled People, etc.,
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increasing social awareness of disability, changes in the perception of a person with a disability and their functioning in society,
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changes in the surroundings and environment – communication adaptations, elimination of architectural barriers,
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utilization of technical and technological progress to meet the needs of people with disabilities.
These actions are accompanied by the activity of the disabled people themselves, not only in terms of competition in the sports arena, but also an increasing, although still insufficient, participation in professional, public, and social life.
One of the problems significant for the functioning of people with disabilities is the adaptation of public transport to their needs. A very important issue is ensuring their safety. In the case of people with disabilities using urban transport, this safety includes many issues related to, among other things, reaching the bus stop, boarding the bus, traveling, or disembarking. When talking about this issue, one usually thinks of physical disability and the barriers it creates in the mobility of people. However, this is not a complete picture – a comprehensive understanding of disability means that the concept of safety and communication adaptation should be understood much more broadly.
Understanding disability
The World Health Organization (WHO) distinguishes between impairment and disability as two types of human performance deficits. According to the WHO definition, disability is any limitation or inability (resulting from an impairment) to lead an active life in a manner or scope considered typical for a human being. A person with a disability, as a result of physical, somatic, or mental limitations, has significant difficulties in carrying out tasks set by daily life, school, professional work, and leisure time; their state of health long-term prevents or hinders them from participating in various social relations.
Functional limitations can be total or partial, permanent or temporary, and characterized by varying degrees. Due to the type and cause of limitations, disability can be divided into:
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physical disability, including people with musculoskeletal damage (motor disability) and people with chronic internal diseases,
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sensory disability (damage to sensory organs), including blind and visually impaired people as well as deaf and hearing-impaired people,
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mental disability, including people with mental illness and people with intellectual disabilities,
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social disability, including dependent people who do not find themselves in social roles.
The typology of the causes of disability is presented in Figure 1. The understanding of disability is therefore very broad and goes far beyond the typical perception of it as merely a physical, motor impairment. The multitude of causes and manifestations of disability means that the people affected by it must struggle with problems. These problems are of a very diverse nature, and overcoming them generates various needs, covering both technical and organizational aspects. Therefore, adapting the environment to the needs of people with disabilities is not only about ensuring their safety, but also solving problems with movement, as well as sensory perception, receiving signals, understanding the environment, and orienting oneself within it. This is very important, as the scale of disability in Poland is significant. According to Central Statistical Office (GUS) data from the Labor Force Survey (BAEL) in the third quarter of 2010, 3,414,000 disabled people were recorded in the population over 15 years of age, which constitutes 10.8% of society. The fact that it is difficult for them to function in the environment is evidenced by the fact that only 507,000 of them are professionally active and working, and 2,832,000 are professionally inactive.
The article comes from the magazine “Logistyka” 2/2011.