Made to feel they don’t count

It was impossible not to be moved by the stories told at the Council’s online meetings for older people on 6 August, and for those with disabilities on 12 August. The daily challenges are hard enough for many of those who attended, but the road closures and displaced traffic have made life even more difficult. (Personal details have been removed from the accounts reproduced here in order to protect people’s identities.)

At both meetings the overwhelming majority of people who spoke were against the measures. The solutions proposed were similar: “scrap the measures”, “reopen the junction” and “start again from scratch” were the most popular suggestions, followed by either permits for all residents, or exemptions for residents whose health conditions make them car-dependent. Other recommendations included school street style solutions at the junction, with a 45-minute or one-hour restriction morning and afternoon; better public transport, including returning the P4 to its original route along Court Lane; and better regulation of cyclists. “I feel like everyone else that what we’re looking for is a compromise that does not disadvantage people with disabilities,” said a woman whose husband has Parkinson’s and osteoarthritis.

The two meetings had many overlaps in that a number of the people with disabilities were older residents and many of the elderly had mobility problems or other ”hidden disabilities”. But not all. One father of a young teenager with autism spoke movingly about the problems caused by the large volume of traffic displaced on to their road. The teenager’s condition means that just getting out of the house in the morning can take them an hour. On top of this, a journey to school that used to take ten minutes now takes them three-quarters of an hour. Treats like going out for ice-cream are impossible because of gridlocked traffic and problems finding disabled parking bays. “I think that has impoverished [my child’s] life.”

Many elderly residents explained how, because of arthritis or other mobility problems, they depend on their car to get around. But the much longer journeys caused by the closures, and by congested traffic on displacement routes, make their health conditions worse, cause them to miss hospital appointments, or make them late as they try to get to their GP on the other side of the Dulwich Village junction. Because there isn’t public transport to get them across Dulwich, the only alternative is to take taxis – but these often arrive late, or refuse to come to Dulwich at all because of the closures, and are expensive. One woman in her eighties asked why the Desktop Equality Impact Assessment the Council had just published had not considered the links between hospitals, health centres, GP surgeries and bus routes because, she said, “The resources people with disabilities need are not all contained in Dulwich.”

Others spoke of the mental health consequences they face from what one elderly man described as being “kettled in” and how he feels “deeply depressed that my declining years should have been made so much more difficult.” A Blue Badge holder living outside the Dulwich Village LTN spoke of the “nightmare” of traffic jams, and how the road closures and cameras make her feel very isolated. She added that “people with disabilities are isolated enough without making it worse”. The mother of a teenager suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome told how the 40-minute journey to school in East Dulwich from West Dulwich, which used to take ten minutes, has worsened the teenager’s condition and made it harder to attend school. The isolation is affecting the teenager’s mental health. This is a young person who needs to see their friends, the mother said, but is now “one of these disabled people who is made to feel [he/she] doesn’t really count”.

Large numbers at both meetings spoke about the fear of being knocked down by cyclists on pavements, who come up behind them very fast, don’t stop at crossings and go through red lights. Two elderly people mentioned they had been ridden into by cyclists, and one had been knocked down.

Some of the saddest comments came from two elderly men. One, who has a severely disabled wife, says they no longer visit friends on the other side of the Dulwich Village junction, and their friends no longer come and see them, “because they can’t get through the village”. The other said how he wanted to meet an 87-year-old friend for lunch in the village but, because “you have to be out of Dulwich Village by 3 o’clock”, ended up not going out at all.

There was widespread anger directed at the Council for creating division and for failing to consult properly. One couple said how Dulwich used to be a “content and harmonious community” but that. because of the way the Council had handled the whole process, it was now a divided community. Another described what the Council had done as “ageist”.

Perhaps the best way of summing up the meeting for older people was given by a woman in her seventies who said, “I don’t think there is any doubt at all that the road closures in Dulwich have adversely affected the older generation and made life very difficult for them.”

Both meetings were billed by the Council as extra meetings to help the consultancy they have appointed (the Centre for Accessible Environments) to produce an Equality Impact Assessment. The person assigned to this task, who attended both meetings, is called Brenda Puech, who is also Chair of the pro-LTN lobbyists Hackney Living Streets.

It remains to be seen if the report she produces records the many difficulties and hardships raised in the meetings, and the practical solutions put forward – or whether the whole thing proves to be yet another of the Council’s tick-box exercises.