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AUDIO Buses And Subways New York And London 1984 *
A historic audio recording, made in New York, comparing the effect of the different transport policies for wheelchair users of London and New York on a journey made by a wheelchair user in 1984. Of interest for students and researchers of real public transport infrastructure, policy and history.
A free download of the audio track can be obtained by following this link (copyright remains with the producer) https://soundcloud.com/user8580052/buses-and-subways-new-york-and-london-1984:
AUDIO Buses And Subways New York And London 1984
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPqnjC5FcIY
In addition:-
* More suitable for people who are blind
** More suitable for people who are deaf
Travelling behind Bars - rail travel in 1980's **
Up until of the 1990's the only way British wheelchair users were allowed to travel (after having to book a day in advance and buying a rail ticket) was in a 'guards van'.
Despite this type of carriage being known as 'the Guard's van', it was very rare for a railway employee i.e. a Guard) to actually be in the van. There was no heating, nor was there any additional seating for companions of wheelchair users, or Tannoy speakers or even an alarm. There was a charge of course for the train ticket, although a discount was given.
I was once put on the wrong train by a British Rail employee and ended up in Slough. When I questioned the guard, he said that he had announced the destination three times on the speaker system, I had to point out that none of these speakers reached the carriage that I had been put in.
I am amazed that, as far as I know, no female wheelchair user was ever sexually assaulted in this type of carriage, considering she would have no access to any alarm bell, nor would it be likely for any witnesses who could get help. The use of this carriage represents a policy of segregation of wheelchair users by the British Rail Board although people have been using wheelchairs in the UK for far longer than the existence of the train.
At one time in the late 1980's I travelled to Birmingham and as luck would have it I shared the guards-van with the disabled television presenter Sian Vasey. I asked her about her return journey. She told me that someone had left the window wide open which she could not close and was made ill because of the cold draft.
Alan Kerr told me that he rarely travelled by train because of the guard's van. He said "I was travelling up from Chatham and was stuck in the cage and the door for the platform was on the other side. I recall screaming and shouting to get passengers to get the Guard to release me. Another major reason was and still is the accessibility of the station platforms".
John Evelyn (a contemporary of Samuel Pepys) recorded the use of a wheelchair in his diary entry of the 11th January, 1672, the earliest passenger train in England only dates back to September, 1825, one hundred and fifty-three years later.
[Oxford English Dictionary, (2nd Ed.), 1989, Vol. XX., p. 203.]
What with the lowering of the standards of living, the slash in income and the rise in train fares, rail travel is no longer affordable for the vast majority of disabled people in the UK.
British Railways (BR) 'Guard's van': photographs taken in the late 1980's. http://jpgmag.com/stories/15541
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/life-in-a-wheelchair-why-do-you-walk-funny-9119973.html
Travelling behind Bars - rail travel in 1980's
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_ys8-5wWyM
Early 19th Century bicycles **
Images of early 19th Century bicycles
Early 19th Century bicycles
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKYhVLbJ6vg
Bicycles and manual wheelchairs - a short history **
The oldest known European visual representation of a wheelchair comes from a woodcut by Hans Weiditz. It is dated 1531 and was published in Augsburg, Bavaria (now in modern Germany).
Next came Stephan Farfler's self-propelled chair (for a person with paraplegia), in about 1655. Stephan Farfler (1633-1689) a clock-maker, built his mobility aid when he was about 22 years old and used it probably until his death. An engraving from 1730 shows him, in his fifties, sitting in his vehicle. In 1693 the vehicle went to the Municipal Library in Nuremberg, where it became the victim of bombs in January 1945.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749--1832) was the first writer to include a reference to a wheelchair user in his play Faust Part 2 (1832). Unfortunately he represented the devil as the wheelchair user in question. Depicting disabled people as 'baddies' simply because they have a physical impairment or disfigurement is a stereotype that continues to this day in James Bond type movies and sadly feeds hate crimes that kill people.
The first recorded use of a wheelchair in England was in 1662, when John Evelyn (1620-1706) a diarist and an acquaintance of the famous Samuel Pepys, commented in his own diary on Lord Aubignie's "wheele-chaire".
John Evelyn, recorded in his entry of 11th of January,1662 that:
"I dined this day at Arundell-house, where I heard excellent Musique, perform'd by the ablest Masters both French & Eng, on Theorba, Viols, Organs & Voices as an Exercise against the comming of the Queene, as purposly composd for her chapell &c: After which my Lord Aubignie (her Majesties Almoner to be) shewed us his elegant Lodging; & his wheele-chaire for Ease & motion, with divers other Curiosities,......."
The inventor John Joseph Merlin,,was born in Huys near Liege, Belgium in 1735. Merlin arrived in England at the age of 25. He was a watch & clock maker by profession and also a mechanical genius. In the mid 1770's he invented roller-skates and presented his new creation by arriving at a London party playing his violin whilst gliding around the room. Merlin received rapacious applause and an encore, the party-goers demanded that he repeated his act, during the second attempt, he quickly discovered that he didn't known how to stop and he had a major accident. The next we read about him is of the invention of a new type of self-propelled wheelchair. What was new is that each propelling wheel had a smaller wheel attached so that the wheelchair user did not get dog excrement, etc. on their hands. His design was so successful that 120 years later, a London catalogue of medical equipment was able to boast nine different 'Merlin' wheelchairs available on their books. Merlin died in 1803.
The Oxford English Dictionary records that the first actual spelling of the word "wheel-chair" was made in a private letter by Jane Austen (1775 - 1817) which was only published in 1952.
The great novelist wrote:
I am to.. be promoted to a wheel-chair as the weather serves."
Throughout the 19th century and even into the early 20th century wheelchairs were hired or purchased from furniture shops. It was not until after the Second World War, and the introduction of a National Health Service in the UK that manual wheelchairs were provided on a basis of physical need.
Texts
http://www.slideshare.net/yourkamden/a-review-of-the-alder-valley-north-careline-accessible-bus-service-1986-by-keith-armstrong
Bicycles and manual wheelchairs - a short history
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpFaAAo3UPE
Transport & Disability Issues *
A rare recording made in 1984 of Wade Blank. RTD is Denver's public transport system. The term 'Paratransit' is used throughout this recording. In the UK this type of transport system is known as 'Dial a Ride' or 'Ring and Ride'.
Tragically, whilst on holiday, Wade Blank's son got caught in an undertow or undercurrent. Wade went into the water to rescue his son, and sadly they both drowned.
Cassette recording made by Elaine Kolb. Video production by Keith Armstrong Currently the audio file can be downloaded for free http://soundcloud.com/user8580052/wade-blank-on-access
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ADAPT
voices.yahoo.com/wade-blank-memories-friend-... - United States
www.tripil.com/main/newsviews/phil/wblankhistory
www.yodisabledproud.org/.../1_5m-Disability_Leaders_Info_..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTR4jkviRaQ
Transport & Disability Issues
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcMFvbk0IoM
Voices on accessible public transport part one (Audio) *
This video contains discussions of barriers and solutions of making buses and other transport accessible to disabled people (including wheel chair users), in 1984. I hope you find this historic recording interesting. Please add your comments.
The recording of this interesting interview was made on a poor quality cassette tape, I suggest you turn up the volume.
Photograph by Keith Armstrong.
Voices on accessible public transport part one (Audio)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hB4IDSzB-oM
Voices on accessible public transport part two (Audio) *
This video contains discussions of barriers and solutions of making buses and other transport accessible to disabled people (including wheel chair users), in 1984. I hope you find this historic recording interesting. Please add your comments.
The recording of this interesting interview was made on a poor quality cassette tape, I suggest you turn up the volume.
Photograph by Keith Armstrong.
Voices on accessible public transport part two (Audio)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IAmGR1CQXk
Dial-a-Ride 1984
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9eEi_SB1S4
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