Flight still closed? Response to the Allen Consulting Group on Review of the Disability Standards for Accessible Public Transport: Draft Report

PIAC made a submission in response to the release of the Draft Report for the Review of the Disability Standards for Accessible Public Transport: Draft Report (the Draft Report) in January 2008. PIAC and the NSW Disability Discrimination Legal Centre, supported by a coalition of disability organisations, produced Flight Closed[1]; which was submitted to the Review in August 2007. Both submissions were made to the Allen Consulting Group (ACG) which was engaged to undertake the Review on behalf of the Federal Government, The submission to the Draft Report considers that report from the perspective of how access to air travel would be effected by the recommendations contained in the Draft Report. Comments are focussed on the general quality of the analysis of the Draft Report, particularly the adequacy of the information sources, level of analysis and whether the evidence, support the recommendations in the Draft Report. The submission concludes that the analysis and lack of independent evaluation of the claims of those making submissions and quoted as evidence in the Draft Report is disappointing. There is a lack a coherent application of methodologies for the analysis and selection of material on which ACG bases the recommendations. Since the basis on which the recommendations are made in the Draft Report is not fully substantiated, it follows that many of the conclusions fail to answer the concerns raised by people with disabilities who experience problems accessing air and other travel.[1] Brenda Bailey, Flight Closed: Report on the experiences of People with Disabilities in Domestic Airline Travel in Australia (2007).