Access for Blind People in Towns

The National Federation of the Blind of the UK (NFBUK) has produced a new guidance note entitled Access for Blind People in Towns, which provides advice on designing shared space schemes from the point of view of blind or partially sighted people.

Access for Blind People in Towns gives information about access provision and sets out the general abilities and limitations of blind people and of trained guide dogs. It is intended to provide assistance to planners, highway engineers and designers in meeting the requirements of the Public Sector Equality Duty and to help ensure that all streetscape layouts are fully inclusive.

Prepared by engineers and blind people from the NFBUK and edited by technical staff from the Royal National Institute for Blind People (RNIB) and the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association (GDBA), this document should be read in conjunction with the Department for Transport’s guidance documents Manual for Streets and Local Transport Note 1/11 Shared Space.

Access for Blind People in Towns does not replace the Department for Transport’s advice in Local Transport Note 1/11 Shared Space and Manual for Streets. If you have any questions about its content or application, please raise them with NFBUK using the contact details at the end of the document.

For further information or to view a copy of Access for Blind People in Towns please visit http://www.nfbuk.org/site/index.php/documents