• Students who require more help can be provided with blank copies of Figure

11.2b and a set of six cards (Figure 11.3). Students can place the cards on the different regions and label each area by copying the text from the card.

(a) Feeding people in China The Chinese population is growing very rapidly. In fact, there are so many

people living in China that, for every five people in the world today, one of them is Chinese. To feed all of these people is a problem the Chinese government has to face.

Most farm work in China is done by hand and many people work long hours on the land in order to grow as much as possible. They use all the land which is capable of supporting crops and increase its richness by adding every possible fertilizer, including human waste. Sometimes they use a system of multiple cropping so that more than one crop can be harvested each year. Where rainfall is low, irrigation helps to give plants enough water and where the land is steep, terraces are built to provide flat steps of land which are easier to farm. So much land is used for arable farming that there is very little left for animals. The only animals found are usually those needed for farm work, e.g. oxen, and those that live off waste, e.g. chickens and pigs.

Most people live as subsistence farmers on the lowland plains of eastern China. This area occupies the land below 400 metres above sea level. North of the line of latitude 35 degrees North, farmers grow only one crop per year. This is usually maize, wheat or potatoes which are similar crops to those grown in Europe. South of 35 degrees North two crops a year are usually grown. Rice is the standard summer crop with wheat in the winter. Here there are also plantations of tea and mulberry. The

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remainder of the country is either desert and rock surface or meadow and pasture, although people do try to grow crops by diverting water to irrigate them, as the passage below (from ‘Danziger’s Travels’) shows.

In this passage Danziger describes travelling on the road north from Charhlik through deserts:

The Lop Desert is the driest area on the Eurasian land mass. It is a waste- land of shifting sand, where temperatures can reach 50 degrees Celsius, while the relative humidity remains at zero. The desert is lashed by sandstorms up to 80 times a year, and winds attain hurricane-like speeds. Although we didn’t encounter anything quite so ferocious, the first part of our route did lie across desert. It gave way to a desiccated forest, where the drivers collected dead wood, During the work we all became covered with dust and sand. Then on again, until finally we reached fertile land – land reclaimed from the desert through a network of canals and sluices which at the time I was there were dry, but which stood ready to channel the waters of the Tarim River, which was fed by snow from the Tian Shan mountain range. Around this fertile land were the great shoulders of the sand dunes, soaring to several hundred feet in height.

(b) Feeding people in China Most people live as subsistence farmers. They live on the lowland plains of

eastern China. This is the land below 400 metres. The lowland plains of eastern China can be divided in two according to

what crops are grown. Find the line of latitude 35 degrees North.

• North of the line farmers grow only one crop a year. This is usually

maize, wheat or potatoes. These are similar crops to those grown in Europe. South of the line two crops a year are usually grown. Rice is the usual summer crop with wheat in the winter. There are also plantations of tea and mulberry grown in this area.

The rest of the country is either desert and rock surface or meadow and pasture. In this area where it is very dry people try to grow crops by redi- recting water to irrigate them.

Figure 11.1 Examples of differentiated resources for Year 8 and 9 students undertaking Activity 1: mapping: (a) Grade 1 and (b) Grade 3

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Figure 11.2 Example outcomes from Activity 1: mapping: (a) Grade 1 map annotated by a more able student as an extension task, and (b) Grade 2 completed map including annotations as a key (a base map is provided)

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Figure 11.3 Grade 3 resources for use in Activity 1: mapping

Table 11.1 summarizes the resources which are on offer to students of different abilities and the tasks they are asked to complete. All students thus complete a labelled map of China and have,ultimately,achieved the same outcome. However,the route to the learning outcome is different by virtue of the grade of resources used.

Table 11.1 Summary of differentiated resources used in the activities

Grade 2 Grade 3 Resource

Extension Grade 1

Previous learning

yes yes Atlas

yes

yes yes China map (unmarked)

yes

no no China map with areas marked

yes

yes yes Labels on cards

no no Labelled map

Annotated map

Activity 2 Diagrams This is another DART activity (Roberts 1986),devised for a unit of work about

ecosystems at GCSE. In this activity students are asked to devise an annotated diagram of an ecosystem. As with Activity 1,the outcome is the same for all the Year 10/11 students; however,the resources they use are differentiated. The text (shown in Figure 11.4) is categorized as a Grade 1 resource. This resource alone should enable students to label their diagram.

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Instructions

• Hand out copies of the sheet describing the ecosystem (see e.g. Figure 11.4)

to all students. • Ask students to produce an annotated diagram of the ecosystem described

in this text. • The task could be extended further by asking more able students to anno-

tate the diagram to explain how the features illustrated are responses or adaptations to the environment.

• Less able students can use a diagram showing the basic features (Grade 2

resources) and be asked to label the features. • Students who find the labelling activity challenging can be given Grade 3

resources (labels in the form of cards,see e.g. Figure 11.5). They place the cards on the appropriate parts of the diagram and copy the text from the cards on to the diagram.

Taiga To the Equator-ward side of the tundra zone, summer temperatures begin

to rise and trees begin to become important. Evergreen conifers start to thrive, and they have certain adaptations suited

for survival. If water is available they can photosynthesize all year round. The needles are a type of leaf that helps the trees to resist drought when

water is locked up as ice or when strong winds increase transpiration rates.

The shape of the crown helps them to shed snow so the branches are not snapped off by the weight.

Large trees up to 40 metres high form a fairly continuous canopy that permits relatively little light to penetrate to the ground, so that a lower layer of trees is uncommon.

There is usually a fairly continuous ground cover of mosses and lichens. Spruces are the dominant tree. Because of the low temperatures, organic matter decays slowly, so litter

tends to accumulate as a thick layer on the forest floor.

Figure 11.4 Grade 1 resource for Activity 2: diagrams Source: Adapted from Goudie 1993.

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Lots of evergreen conifers close together

Most of the trees are spruce trees

Lots of mosses and lichens grow beneath the trees

No trees grow beneath the big tree

Needles which have fallen to the ground to make a thick layer

Figure 11.5 Example of Grade 3 resources for Activity 2: diagrams

Activity 3 Written work Key Stage 3 students at Howard of Effingham School study a unit on weather in Year

7,during which they are asked to write a weather forecast. The forecast is based on a copy of a relatively simple synoptic chart showing a depression crossing the British Isles. This is a challenging task. Once again the outcome is common to all students but the way in which they achieve it is differentiated. Some students will be able to complete the task using only the synoptic chart,so it is described as a Grade 1 resource. More able students are asked to forecast the weather using a synoptic chart from the day’s newspaper or downloaded from the internet as an extension task. Where Grade 2 resources are provided,they indicate that students must write a sentence about each of the following aspects of weather:

• temperature; • the nature and type of precipitation (is it rain, hail or snow?); • cloud cover and type; and • wind speed and direction.

The Grade 3 resources,provided for less able students,are issued in an envelope. These consist of a complete weather forecast cut into individual sentences. However,there are at least two copies of the information about each aspect of the weather: one correct and the other incorrect. This is designed to help less able students to write the forecast,while offering them the challenge of interpreting the data. This approach offers considerable flexibility: three,four or more incorrect statements can be included. Using the same approach,it is also possible to provide Grade 4 resources by including fewer sets of incorrect information in the envelope.

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Conclusion The provision of differentiated resources need not be a complicated and time-

consuming task for teachers. The supply of a variety of graded resources and,where possible,allowing students to choose those they feel are most appropriate for their ability offer a positive learning experience for all. This approach enables all students to achieve a satisfactory outcome while experiencing appropriate yet similar learning experience in the geography classroom.

Note The grading of resources discussed in this article has been devised by the geography

department at Howard of Effingham School,Surrey – and is used widely in their geography teaching.

Acknowledgements The author would like to thank Bob Digby (Lecturer in Education at Brunel Univer-

sity) for help in producing this article; Wendy Hendy at Howard of Effingham School for supplying Figure 11.4; students at Howard of Effingham school (in particular Jenny Briscoe) for use of their work; and Katy and James Norton for their help in producing and scanning figures.

References Danziger, N. (1987) Danziger’s Travels Beyond Forbidden Frontiers, London: Grafton.

Goudie, A. (1993) The Nature of the Environment (third edition), Oxford: Blackwell. Roberts,M. (1986) ‘Talking,reading and writing’,in D. Boardman (ed.) Handbook

for Geography Teachers , Sheffield: Geographical Association.

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II Disability and inclusive landscapes

Rob Kitchin

The ideas of social justice and citizenship have been key themes in many aspects of human geography since the early 1970s. Broadly,social justice studies have examined the distribution of material goods and power between people in a society, asking whether such distributions are fair and just,and how that society might be rearranged into a more just configuration. For example,David Harvey (1996) and David Smith (1994) explored inequalities between people in cities in relation to housing conditions,poverty,and access to employment and services,the reasons why such inequalities exist,and how this uneven development might be addressed. Citizenship builds upon notions of justice,and concerns the civil and welfare rights a State’s subjects can expect – in other words what rights you can expect as a citizen of a country. Traditionally,questions relating to social justice and citizenship in western societies,whether something is good or bad,right or wrong,fair or unfair, have been avoided within the school curriculum. However,ideas of inclusion now form part of the secondary school curriculum,and the Programmes of Study in Citi- zenship at Key Stages 3 and 4 seek to encourage students to think about political,moral and social issues.

This chapter demonstrates how disabled people are often denied the same levels of citizenship,experiencing reduced levels of social justice in comparison to non- disabled people,specifically by focusing on access to the built environment. It can be argued that,in many western countries,disabled access to the built environment is only partially legislated for,therefore there is only partial obligation to provide access. Consequently disabled people only have partial citizenship,i.e. they only have partial rights to move about towns and cities. As well as detailing some of the problems,this chapter also considers ways in which students as geographers might intervene and try to make their environment more inclusive.

Disability, geography and exclusion It is only since the mid 1990s that there has been a sustained attempt to start to map

out the geographies of disability in relation to social justice,citizenship and exclusion (for an overview see Park et al. 1998 and Kitchin 2000). Despite this late start,a number of different issues have been investigated (Figure 11.6),although each of these topics is still highly under-researched.

What each of these investigations has revealed is that disabled people,by and large, experience different geographies from non-disabled people. In many cases,this

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Planning process and urban design issues, e.g. examining (1) the ways in which the physical environment excludes disabled people by denying access to certain locations; (2) how to design environments that are accessible to disabled people. Experiences of living within urban and rural environments, e.g. asking disabled people about what it is like to live in a location and some of the issues that concern them. Transport and mobility, e.g. (1) examining how accessible transport is for disabled people; (2) measuring the spatial behaviour patterns of disabled people (how far disabled people travel, how frequently, and by what means). Access to labour markets and schooling, e.g. examining how accessible, in terms of infrastructure and attitudes, labour markets and schooling are to disabled people. Siting of mental health facilities, residents’ reactions and the socio- economic effects, e.g. examining the effects (social and economic) of siting mental health facilities in a particular location. Mapping and spatial ecology of disability, e.g. constructing maps of where people with different impairments are located, and then seeing if there is any relationship with variables such as social conditions, pollution or environment type. Learning and communicating geographic information, e.g. examining how people with visual impairments remember and learn spatial concepts such as street layout, and the routes between locations either through direct experience, or through secondary media such as tactile maps. Cross-cultural comparisons, e.g. examining the relationship between geography and disability in different places, in relation to both actual provision and legislation.

Figure 11.6 Some of the disability issues that geographers have examined

might be expected. For example,people with visual impairments perceive the geographic world differently from those with full sight,and wheelchair users cannot, for practical reasons,travel through many wilderness areas. Problems arise,however, when disabled people experience different geographies through no fault of his or her own. For example,it is now commonly argued that if a wheelchair user cannot enter

a building it is because the building is inappropriately designed,not because of their impairment. In other words,it is the geography – the way the built environment is designed and built – that excludes many disabled people from full access to the towns and cities they live in.

What the studies in Figure 11.6 reveal is that there is a variety of ways in which disabled people are discriminated against in society,all of which lead to the production of very different geographies (Figure 11.7). The four points in Figure 11.7 indicate that there is an imbalance in how disabled people are perceived and treated. In other words,there is an imbalance in social justice and citizenship between disabled and non-disabled citizens.

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1 Lack of access to power: Disabled people are generally under-represented in political positions at all levels (local, regional, national and international) and therefore lack a platform to give their views and change society.

2 Lack of access to social well-being: Disabled people are generally over- represented in poor housing, denied access to private and public transport, and find it difficult to take part in ‘mainstream’ social activities such as visiting the pub or cinema through poor provision and weak laws.

3 Lack of access to employment: Disabled people are often excluded from the labour market through discriminatory practices and poor levels of mobility. Where they do gain access it is usually in marginal positions undertaking low-paid, low-skilled work often on a part-time basis. This denies many disabled people prosperity and wealth, and their associated power.

4 Stigmatization through media images: Disabled people are often portrayed in the media as abnormal, ‘freaks of nature’ or ‘charity cases’. This presents negative stereotypes that mean that many non-disabled people view and treat disabled people in unfair and discriminatory ways.

Figure 11.7 Four ways in which disabled people are discriminated against

Access to the built environment There are many ways in which the urban environment disables people. For example,

it is common for pavements to have kerbs at crossings rather than pavement-cuts and tactile markings,for cash machines to be placed too high for wheelchair users,and for places to be linked by inaccessible public transport. Even where there is provision for disabled people,it is often separate or different from non-disabled provision. For example,accessible public toilets are mostly separate from able-bodied toilets,and theatres and cinemas generally restrict wheelchair users to certain areas within the auditorium,usually towards the front or the sides. As a consequence,disabled people often encounter many more problems of mobility than non-disabled people.

All of the problems detailed above can be tackled with relative ease. For example,steps can be complemented with a ramp,cash machines can be placed lower,buildings can have lifts fitted,buses can be adapted,and so on. This reveals that the built environment is rarely ‘natural’ but is the product of people’s values and actions. Indeed the built environment does not just occur – it is carefully planned. As such,if we wanted to make accessible environments,we could. The fact that environments are not accessible reveals important insights into how we,as a society,view and value disabled people. To geographers such as Rob Imrie (1996),inaccessible environments suggest that urban planning expresses a form of ‘design apartheid’ whereby planners,architects and building control officers are guilty of constructing environments which ‘lock’ disabled people out. This occurs,he suggests, because planners and architects are more interested in how a building looks or how it will

be used by the majority of users,failing to consider the needs of disabled people. Here, environments and buildings are designed as if all people are the same (non-disabled). He argues that those that build and shape the environments we live in need to rethink the ways in which places are designed in order to make society more inclusive.

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Investigating access There are a number of ways in which the figures in this article can be used

in the geography classroom, in the school buildings and grounds and for local fieldwork.

• Geography teachers can ask Key Stage 3/4 students to study

photographs of inaccessible environments. Small groups of students produce brief descriptions of how … the environment is inaccessible to wheelchair users. This could be followed by a whole-class discussion to clarify the issues. Students could then use this information and a simplified version of the access audit (Figure

11.8) to map accessible/inaccessible places for wheelchair users around the school buildings/grounds. They will need to decide on appropriate symbols and include a key on the map. Using the quotes in Figure 11.9 and a modified version of Figure

11.8, groups of Key Stage 3 or 4 students can make a second survey of the school grounds/buildings with the visually impaired person in mind. Students could then suggest ways in which the school environment could be made more accessible for: a) wheelchair users; and

b) the visually impaired. The evidence could be presented either as

a display, a presentation to the class or as a report to the headteacher. As a follow-up activity, groups of Key Stage 3 and 4 students can use these experiences as well as Figure 11.8 and large-scale maps, to gather evidence of accessibility and inaccessibility in an urban area (Figure 11.10). In the field, they should identify areas of good and bad practice, i.e. where kerbs are lowered, or where steps are painted in different colours. In this case the information gathered could be sent to the local planning office. The report could also take account of the views gathered from local people with disabilities, e.g. groups and/or individuals with specific needs. However, students should be instructed to respect people’s privacy and/or anonymity at all times.

One way in which to find out how accessible an environment is, is to undertake an access audit. Take a walk around your local shopping centre and, using the checklist below, undertake an audit of:

• How many disabled people there are in relation to non-disabled people.

How people with physical and sensory impairments would get to the shopping centre (e.g. is public transport accessible, are there disabled parking spaces?).

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How accessible the areas between the shops are for people with physical and sensory impairments (e.g. are there steps but no ramp, is there a lot of street furniture?). How accessible, both from the street and once inside, the shops are to people with physical and sensory impairments (e.g. are the aisles wide enough for a wheelchair, are there lifts between floors?). How the shops provide for people with learning and develop- mental disabilities (e.g. are the visual signs easy to understand, are items on sales colour-coded?). How many specialized services are provided in the immediate area (e.g. is there a shop mobility scheme, are there accessible toilets?).

The checklist below should help you focus on specific areas.

• Parking and approach

well-signposted and easy-to-find car park designated car spaces for disabled people that are close to the building trained staff available to help disabled people (with signs to indicate so) accessible path from car park to buildings (e.g. dropped kerbs) user-friendly path for people with sensory impairments (e.g. tactile paving) obstacles (e.g. bollards/street furniture) highlighted by colour contrast and tactile surfaces

• Entrances to buildings

provision of both steps and ramp handrails provided on both sides of steps/ramp doorbell can be reached by all audible/tactile/visible intercom easy-opening door level threshold across doorway door-width sufficient to allow wheelchair access

• Reception and facilities

appropriate height of reception desk adequate seating publicly accessible toilets map of site including levels of accessibility

• Circulation areas

adequate directional signage (tactile as well as visual) corridors wide enough level fire exits suitable floor surface tactile paths/guides

ASPECTS OF TEACHING SECONDARY GEOGRAPHY

• Vertical circulation

lift large enough to accommodate wheelchair doors open wide enough appropriate height of control panel appropriate alarm/phone height audible and visible signage suitable dimensions of treads/insets of stairs handrails to both sides of stairs and in contrasting colours stair nosing (edge of step) of a contrasting colour

If conducted as part of project work, photograph different environments and construct a poster documenting access in the shopping centre.

• What conclusions can you draw from your study?

Figure 11.8 Undertaking an access audit Source: Ewart 1998.

Very simple practical ideas are needed, such as larger signs and painting the edges of all steps.

Larger signs are needed. Street signs in most towns are either too high or too low to read.

They should paint the kerbs; that would help. Sometimes I fall off even with the cane. I’ve been knocked down twice … Drivers don’t realize even if you have a cane. They don’t really care. It scared me a bit last time. I just lost the edge of the kerb.

Move lamp posts to one side of the pavement. Painting a shop doorway would be good, like a yellow line by the door. I’m

always walking into shop fronts looking for the door. Tactile pavements need to be standardized and there need to be more of

them. We need consistency; they are not uniform. You can spot a white line on one

set of steps and then take a tumble on the next. Positioning of signs needs to

be better. We need consistency in tactile markings at crossings and road junctions.

They are good in some areas but they don’t always end up at the pole with the button. Some go from the edge of the pavement to the inner shoreline, others just jut out into the path, so sometimes you can miss them.

Figure 11.9 Potential access solutions suggested by people with visual impairments Source: Kitchin et al. 1998a: 43.

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Making an accessibility map

Using the information you collected as part of Figure 11.9, create an accessibility map of your local shopping centre. The map should try to be as inclusive as possible and will thus contain information suitable for people with different disabilities (e.g. wheelchair user, reduced mobility, visually-impaired). You could create maps dedi- cated to particular groups and then to merge them. Text should be in plain English and accompanied by visual logos (you may need to invent some) so that someone with a learning disability can understand the labelling.

Make sure you include details about the three parts of access: getting there, getting between the buildings, and moving about in the buildings.

The map should communicate issues of accessibility as clearly as possible, so take note of the following:

• provide a reference and a title (e.g. Accessibility Map of Metro Centre

Shopping Centre) display at an appropriate size so that visual interpretation is easy and text readable make sure the map is uncluttered and contains the necessary information at an appropriate scale include a legend, scale and North arrow.

Figure 11.10 Instructions for constructing an accessibility map, with an example of a completed map

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Other geographers,including myself (Kitchin 1998),have considered the messages that these inaccessible environments communicate to disabled people. As Napolitano writes:

Good inclusive design will send positive messages to disabled people,messages which tell them: ‘You are important’; ‘we want you here’; and ‘welcome’ … if the way that disabled people are expected to get into a building is round the back, past the bins and through the kitchens,what does that message communicate? How will it make a disabled person feel?

Here it is argued that the landscape is ‘written’ as a text,containing messages that we can read (see Cresswell 1996 for an introduction). We have all been taught how to create and read such messages,whether it is being apprehensive when we walk down

a dark alley,or being quiet in libraries. In other words,when we look at an environment we recognize whether we ‘belong’ there and can decide what is appropriate behaviour in that context. In the case of disability,geographers are interested in how landscapes reflect the values of the people who designed them and who live there, and how such designs and values affect disabled people – how disabled people feel when they are trying to negotiate inaccessible environments,and how this affects their spatial behaviour (where they go). Such studies demonstrate that disabled people’s spatial behaviour is not just affected by issues of accessibility but also by issues of acceptance,provision and attitudes. Understanding how geography disables people,then,is as much about understanding how the environment conveys messages of belonging and exclusion as it is about understanding the organization and structure of places. As Figure 11.11 demonstrates,teachers can use extracts from novels to intro- duce some of the issues that wheelchair users encounter. It details,in a humorous manner,the many different ways in which geography disables people and the messages of exclusion that the built environment can communicate to disabled people.

Towards a more inclusive environment The argument being developed is clearly that there is a need to build a more inclusive

society,that is,a society that has an enlarged concept of citizenship which respects and values all its members,including disabled people. As illustrated above,disabled people are often disabled by the fact that society in general,through its attitudes and actions,actively excludes them. Disabled people do not have the same access to what most people would consider basic rights such as education,housing,transport, employment, and the built environment.

If society is to become more inclusive then the built environment needs to be made more accessible. Making the environment more accessible and recognizing the need to cater for disabled people are now legal obligations in the UK for service providers and employers as part of the Disability Discrimination Act (1995). Because of their focus of study,and the skills they possess,geographers are in a key position to help the government and concerned citizens to identify particular problems and issues,determining what structural changes in the environment are needed and helping to enforce legislation. A number of inclusive projects can be initiated in rela-

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Below is an extract from Ben Elton’s novel ‘Gridlock’. Read the extract and then answer the following questions:

1 How is Deborah portrayed in the passage?

2 What sorts of access problems does Deborah encounter? Deborah [using a wheelchair because of a car accident] would come to realize

that the only thing missing from doorways, steps, lifts, escalators, curbs, etc., in London, were neat signs saying Achtung! No Disabled People Allowed … For Deborah, once a warm and vibrant human being, exuding personality and soul, had become a fire hazard. Fire hazard, and specifically a fire hazard. Not obstruction, embarrassment or damn nuisance, but fire hazard.

The reason Deborah was so specifically a fire hazard was that in those two little words, the abled-bodied community let itself off the hook. It would of course be churlish to deny someone access to a theatre or pub because their chair would be difficult to get up a flight of steps, or because they might occupy more space than walking customers and hence are less profitable. On the other hand, to deny someone access because they are a fire hazard – well, there is a sensible and public spirited action. There is a fast route to the moral high ground if ever there was one …

Should Deborah, or anyone similarly afflicted, be so selfish as to complain about their effective ostracism from social and cultural life, what would she

be doing but wishing pain or death upon the abled-bodied community? And let us face it, it is not their fault that she is in a wheelchair.

‘It’s the possibility of a panic that worries us,’ people would patiently explain to Deborah. ‘You have to ask yourself what your situation would be in the case of a rush or stampede.’

Very occasionally Deborah attempted to argue her corner, pointless though she knew it to be.

‘Listen, bud,’ she had said, as politely as she could manage, to the slightly punky young man who was refusing to sell her a ticket to a play to be performed in an upstairs room of a pub … ‘It is Saturday afternoon OK? And I have just negotiated the entire length of Oxford Street. I dealt with it all; the tone deaf [idiot] playing two of the three chords of “Blowin’ in the wind”, who kindly had his guitar case full of five pence bits spread across half the pavement … I have got around ten broken paving stones that the council kindly put there to trip up blind people and snag wheelchairs. I have avoided the 1.5 million tourists standing in groups wondering how they just managed to pay £5.00 for a can of coke … I have circumnavigated the thousands of thugs from the city in pretend Armani suits who can’t see you because they are so busy talking into their portable phones. So they bash you in the knees with their stupid briefcases, with reinforced steel corners, that are absolutely essen- tial to protect the bag of crisps and a copy of Penthouse, which is all they have inside the case … I have detoured round the gangs of bored youths who hang around … outside each and every one of the identical fast food outlets offering identical [rubbish] in a bag and Tennessee Fried Dog; the crocodile of French schoolgirls with their beautiful Benetton jumpers tied round their

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waists, just at a nice level to get caught in the face; the endless men who stop dead directly in front of me to turn round and look at the French schoolgirls; … the road works; the bollards; the steaming piles of plastic bin liners; the taxis taking a little known short cut along the pavement; the bloke who stands around with a sandwich-board saying eat less meat and protein; and the strange bearded tramp waving his arms around and screaming [get lost] at everybody. All these things I have dealt with today, in a [blooming] wheelchair, bud. I think I could just about handle 25 assorted teachers and social workers making for the door in an upstairs pub!’

Figure 11.11 An example of a representation of a disabled person and access issues Note

Text in square brackets has been modified for language.

tion to focuses detailed in Figure 11.6. One such project,which builds on the activities outlined above,is to produce accessibility maps of the local area,as suggested in Figure 11.10. These highlight particular access issues that need to be addressed,and provide aids to local disabled people so they can plan more efficient spatial mobility. Such maps could also be used as evidence to lobby local councils,planning and design bodies for changes to the built environment.

Conclusion The work of geographers around the world has shown that disabled people have

more limited citizen rights than their non-disabled counterparts,particularly in relation to access to the built environment. As this article indicates,inaccessible environments are not ‘natural’; they are made by people and can,with some forethought,be constructed in an accessible form. Although legislation has started to change the landscape,it is slow and partial. There are many opportunities for geographers to help speed up the process of developing inclusive landscapes in the form of more accessible environments by providing practical solutions that will help improve the quality of life of some disabled people. In doing so,geography students will be contributing to a more inclusive society as active citizens.

References Cresswell,T. (1996) In Place/Out of Place,Minneapolis: Minnesota University Press.

Elton, B. (1992) Gridlock, London: MacDonald. Ewart,K. (1998) personal communication. Centre for University Accessibility,

University of Ulster. Gleeson, B. (1999) Geographies of Disability, London: Routledge. Harvey, D. (1996) Justice, Nature and the Geography of Difference, Oxford: Blackwell. Imrie,R. (1996) Disability, and the City: International Perspectives,London: Paul Chapman

Publishing. Kitchin,R.M. (1998) ‘“Out of place”,“knowing one’s place”: towards a spatialised theory of disability and social exclusion’, Disability and Society 13: 343–56.

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—— (2000) Changing Geography: Disability, Space and Society,Sheffield: Geographical Association. Napolitano,S. (1995) ‘Mobility impairment’,in G. Hales (ed.) Beyond Disability: Towards an Enabling Environment , London: Sage. Park,D.,Radford,J. and Vickers,M.H. (1998) ‘Disability studies in human geography’, Progress in Human Geography 22(2): 208–33. Smith, D. (1994) Geography and Social Justice, Oxford: Blackwell.

Websites Centre for Accessible Environments: www.cae.org.uk

Disability Net: www.disabilitynet.co.uk Disability Rights Commission: www.drc-gb.org Newbridge Access Project: www.may.ie/staff/rkitchin/newbridge.htm UK government disability website: www.disability.gov.uk

• Students who require more help can be provided with blank copies of Figure