Bristol SLC unveils Mayoral Manifesto
Bristol Sight Loss Council unveiled its Mayoral Election Manifesto to raise awareness of the issues regularly faced by blind and partially sighted people in the city.
Sight Loss Council (SLC) members, who are all blind and partially sighted themselves, created the manifesto to highlight the issues in the run up to the election and request the mayoral candidates to take them in to account when setting their priorities for their mayoralty.
Alun Davies, Engagement Manager for Bristol Sight Loss Council, said: “We unveiled the manifesto at our VI Forum last week and will be meeting each of the four mayoral candidates over the coming weeks to raise these key issues with them.”
Bristol Sight Loss Council Mayoral Election Manifesto
- To encourage and support plans for open spaces in the city that are safe for everyone, and recognise the particular concerns of people with a visual impairment in shared spaces with vehicles.
- To increase the funding available for rehabilitation services for people who are blind and partially sighted to provide a full-time mobility officer role.
- To ensure that all digital services are fully accessible to people with a visual impairment, including meeting all national and international access standards, and to provide adequate support to enable people with a visual impairment to fully utilise digital services. To ensure that the needs of older people who are blind and partially sighted, who do not access digital information are not ignored, to continue to provide a telephone number answered by a person for all digital services.
- To work with people with a visual impairment and other partners through the One City plan to significantly increase the numbers of people with a visual impairment employed in the city.
- To work with partners through the One City plan to significantly reduce the number of obstacles on the streets of Bristol, including A-boards and street furniture.
- To work with the Police and other affected groups to raise awareness of the dangers posed by parking on pavements.
- To develop with people who are blind and partially sighted a policy to be adopted by the council, that all council materials are produced in formats following RNIB recommended standards, and that all requests for information in different formats are met within 5 working days.
- To maintain the Blind Person’s bus pass in its current status of free travel all day.
- To introduce a specific VI awareness element delivered by people with a visual impairment in the taxi driver mandatory training, to improve treatment of people with VI by Bristol taxi drivers.
- That where a new policy or service, or a change to an existing policy or service, directly impacts on people who are blind and partially sighted, there will be genuine and meaningful co-production with people who are blind and partially-sighted from the earliest possible time.
Bristol City Council election takes place on Thursday 7 May 2020 with the four mayoral candidates standing: Sandy Hore-Ruthven (Green), Mary Page (Liberal Democrats), Marvin Rees (Labour) and Samuel Williams (Conservative and Unionist Party).
At the VI Forum last Thursday people heard more about the Sight Loss Council’s recent work, such as encouraging shops in the city centre to consider people with visual impairments in their layout and lighting and working with transport providers to introduce features that help blind and partially sighted people know they have got on the right bus. Attendees shared their experiences and challenges they have faced in and around the city – which will help to shape the future activities of the council.
Publication date: 15 October 2020