Seeing streets differently
A person, from the knees down, crossing the road and using a white cane.
Welcome to RNIB's guide on how you can make a meaningful impact in the lives of people with sight loss through our Seeing Streets Differently initiative. By joining us in advocating for inclusive environments, we can transform streets and neighbourhoods into spaces where everyone can navigate safely and independently. Below, discover practical ways you can contribute to creating a world without barriers for people with sight loss.
How blind and partially sighted people get around
Firstly, before we can explain how you can help, we want to share with you how changes to our streets and vehicles are affecting the lives of blind and partially sighted people to help others understand why inclusive design is so important when it comes to our streets.
We all need to use our streets, whether that’s getting to work, going to the shops, taking care of our health or seeing friends and family. But for blind and partially sighted people, lots of things make it harder to get around, from bins or bikes left on the pavement, to the poor design making it difficult to cross the road safely.
We can all play our part to make our streets more accessible and inclusive so everyone can use our streets independently.
Read the guides below to find out more.
Our Seeing Streets Differently report
Walking journeys are fundamentally important for blind and partially sighted people to live with independence.
However, recent – and sudden – changes to the layouts of our towns and cities and the way we travel have impacted on the safety of people with sight loss to get around independently, and their confidence to do so.
Our research shows there are a range of factors at work – from new street designs to e-scooter trials – and we are calling on local authorities, transport operators, designers and the Department for Transport to work with us to ensure our streets are truly inclusive.
Our report highlights how inclusive design is better for everyone, ensuring the whole community can access and enjoy their area and key services like healthcare, education and work.
Click below to download the report.
Key Principles of Inclusive Street Design
We've also created a guide on inclusive street design. These Key Principles of Inclusive Street Design will help ensure our streets are as accessible as possible. Inclusive design is better design for everyone: people with sight loss, other disabled people, older people, carers with children, and ultimately for all who wish to use our streets.
Click below to download the guide.