Trust, Inclusion and Modernisation - The Accessible Link #10
The High-Speed exclusion of disabled railway customers
"Trust takes years to build, seconds to break, and forever to repair."
I have often thought of this quote in the past two weeks since the proposed ticket office closures became public. I watched parliamentary debates and misleading PR videos, read press releases, and listened to railway managers defending this, some more passionate than others.
Inclusion is a topic everywhere; most companies know that if they don't become more inclusive, their business will have issues in the future - from finding the right people and developing better products to building a loyal customer base. It's all linked to being more inclusive and diverse. It's a true sign of modernisation and innovation.
At the same time, the government and the Rail Delivery Group are on the High-Speed exclusion track, throwing those under the train who are different, not so confident, not so tech savvy, or need assistance when boarding a train because (another sign of not being ready for the future) most trains still have a massive gap and step between the train and the platform.
There is no modernisation without inclusion
Whatever the outcome will be, this is such a break of trust by a whole industry when it comes to inclusion, looking after each other, being customer-focused, and assisting those customers who need it; I can't remember any other sector that went so much at war with its customers as the railway industry is now.
Nobody is against the modernisation of ticket offices, but this is not what this is all about. When stations get destaffed, it becomes challenging to get assistance, and ticket options for disabled people vanish. The availability of induction loops for people with hearing aids in ticket offices that send the sound directly into hearing aids gets replaced by "We hope that the flexibility of our staff will enable them to seek out a quiet area" (Impact Assessment Southeastern). If all this is sold as “modernisation” then trust is fundamentally broken. There is no modernisation without inclusion. It will take armies of empathetic leaders and managers to fix this one day.
Some interesting links
A family claims that United Airlines' assistance failures at an airport resulted in their son's severe brain injury. I heard before that disabled passengers got injured while boarding, but this is such a severe case, showing how important the right training for assisted travel agents is.
Have you ever asked yourself how many disabled people there are? This very interesting interview with a statistics consultant explains why the complexity of disability can't be reduced to one number.
US Vice President Kamala Harris met with disabled people for a roundtable discussion on the ADA. She mentioned the lack of toilet facilities for wheelchair users on domestic flights and promised some action.
Something to watch
I went to an event with Simon Sinek (Start With Why) and Steven Bartlett (The Diary of a CEO) at the Southbank Centre. Not only was the evening fantastic and interesting, but the Southbank Centre also has amazing wheelchair spaces with a great view; Rambert Dance Company had a surprise dance recital at the beginning of the evening. One of the main dancers was Musa Motha (this is an interview with him). I've never seen anything like that before. It was such an inclusive and amazing performance. Here is him at “Britain's Got Talent”.
Something #DisabilityTwitter is talking about
Katie Pennick tried to take the Overground. The rest is quite well documented in this tweet, which has over 500k views.
Some final words
Without exception, kept promises do more for a leader’s credibility and trustworthiness with employees and customers than any leadership development initiative. (Hugh Blane)The Accessible Link is a reader-supported publication. If you know someone who would like to read this newsletter, give them a gift subscription.
Who is writing this newsletter?
I’m Christiane Link, and I improve the customer experience in aviation, transport, and travel. I worked as a journalist for over two decades and travelled extensively for business and leisure. I’m a wheelchair user. If you want to read more from me, follow me on LinkedIn, Twitter, Bluesky or Mastodon. You can also reply to this email if you want to contact me.