By Parker McKenzie
When people with disabilities go to access amenities that are labelled accessible, often they arrive only to find issues and barriers to their use.
Scope, one of Australia’s largest disability providers, and Victoria Walks, a health promotion charity, have teamed up to audit walks around Melbourne to ensure they are truly accessible for everyone.
A launch event for Walking and Rolling Together was held at the Tim Neville Arboretum in Ferntree Gully on Thursday 20 April to celebrate 24 walks being audited and determined as accessible to people with disabilities by examining elements like terrain, distance to public transport and accessible bathrooms.
Victoria Walks Executive Officer Dr Ben Rossiter said the partnership between the two organisations, along with support from the Victoria Government, gives people confidence in the accessibility of the audited walks.
“Together, we’ve developed a free, easy-to-use accessible waking tool, co-designed with disability and scopes access consultations to assess walking routes for accessibility,” he said.
“The advisory group experts offered guidance on what features to look for in walks and used plain language in how we present the walks.”
Audited walks include the Tim Neville Arboretum, Croydon Park, Lillydale Lake and Queens Park in Healesville.
Scope CEO Kate McRae said the walks listed had to be found to be truly accessible after being audited by people with disabilities.
“The lived experience really speaks to the authenticity of the evidence-based audit,” she said.
“We know that walking with friends and family helps our mental health as well as physical health, it helps us connect, it helps us have a safe space t explore nature and to be included in this wonderful environment that we have here today.”
The audit tool has also been developed so other organisations and communities can use it to access whether a walk is accessible for people with disabilities.
Scope Auditor Gwenda Campbell said the collaboration would help people with disabilities connect with their local community and other people around them.
“It’s important for our community parks and walking paths to be accessible and safe for everyone,” she said.
“People with disabilities should have the same opportunities to gather in local parks as the rest of the community.”
The list of assessable walks will be expanded as more are audited by Scope.
For more information and to see the list of accessible walks visit walkingmaps.com.au/accessible-walks
