To Örebro University

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Sustainable Development Goals stipulate that persons with disabilities have equal rights to access and safely use transport systems. The aim of the current study is to explore stakeholders' perspectives of the relationship and prioritization between safety and accessibility in the Swedish discussion of disability and transport. The data consist of interviews with 15 informants from the National Council for Disability and Transport and other key stakeholders. Reflexive thematic analysis led to identification of four themes: basis for priorities is a matter of governing; challenges to measuring and evaluating different values; importance of knowledge and building forums; and a universal system of accessibility and safety is a challenge. The results indicate the road ahead for a possible holistic and sustainable governance in the transport systems. However, how this will be put into practise is not yet defined.

Points of interest

• According to several regulations, persons with disabilities have equal rights to safety and accessibility in the transport system. However, there are challenges to combining different concepts and perspectives.
• Lack of mandates for institutions to address both safety and accessibility leads to goal conflicts and a risk that focuses become entrenched with clearly defined boundaries.
• There are challenges in evaluating different values and perspectives in relation to accessibility.
• A facilitating aspect for sustainability regarding safety and accessibility is to create opportunities and systems to allow for the exchange of knowledge.
• Integration of safety and accessibility may be encouraged by the use of existing sets of holistic approaches (i.e. Vision Zero and Universal Design).