ScotRail is helping students train for the future at Milngavie station.
Students from Glasgow Caledonian University’s Graduate Diploma in Low Vision Rehabilitation put themselves in the shoes of someone who is visually impaired during a training course at Milngavie station on Wednesday 12 September 2018.
To better understand what a person with sight problems would experience, the students practised stepping on and off a train while visually impaired themselves.
By taking part, students were provided with the knowledge and experience to not only teach a visually impaired person the route to the railway station using a long-cane, but also have the skills to familiarise the person with the main features of the station and train itself.
John Wilson, Community Liaison Executive at ScotRail, said:
“We’re committed to making the railway accessible for all, and events like this are just one way we support customers with visual impairment or restricted mobility.
“Over the past year our hard-working teams enabled over 150,000 assisted travel journeys – making sure that people who need a bit of help to travel receive it.”
Alistair Smith, Lecturer at Glasgow Caledonian University, said:
"The feedback from the students was great. It provided them with an insight into the reality of independent travel for those with visual impairment.
“The session allowed students to experience the challenges that a visually impaired traveller has when they are using public transport, as well as learning and practicing the mobility skills and techniques that they will in turn teach to the people they work with."
NOTES
The ScotRail Alliance offers a free assisted travel service, open to anyone who would like more support when travelling on one of its trains. In a typical year, more than more than 78,000 pre-booked assisted journeys are enabled through this service, with many more spur of the moment trips.
We aim to provide assistance to those who need help when travelling on our network whether this has been booked in advance or not, however providing at least four hours’ notice allows us to ensure staff are in place at both departure and arrival station to assist customers.
We encourage anyone who may require additional assistance to let us know their travel plans so we can help them in any way we can.