Students' travel insight

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 recent training course at the station.

To better understand what a person with sight problems would experience, they 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 them with the main features of the station and train itself.

John Wilson, ScotRail’s community liaison executive, 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, Glasgow Caledonian University lecturer, 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 them to experience the challenges, as well as learning and practising the skills and techniques that they will teach to the people they work with.”