Parking, transport, technology, and recreation – these were just some of the areas flagged at Wagga’s disability inclusion forum on Monday afternoon.
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In a bid to make Wagga more open for all its residents, the council held an open meeting to hear the community’s feedback and ideas on how the city could become more accessible for people with disabilities.
Lisa Saffery, the council’s social planning coordinator, said a significant proportion of Wagga’s population were living with a disability.
“I think we need to start off by saying that 20 per cent of people living in Wagga have an accessibility issue, and another 10 per cent are carers for people with accessibility issues,” Ms Saffery said.
After going over the progress of the last year, Ms Saffery invited members of the community to share their ideas on improving accessibility.
“The top item was transport, and people wanted to see more accessible transport and out-of-hours transport,” she said.
“Access to waterways was next – people want to be able to go fishing and swim in the river.”
Among the other top contenders for ways to make Wagga more accessible were computer classes at the library for people with intellectual disabilities and more accessible parking for parents around playgrounds.
People also asked for accessible portable bathrooms during events, lighting at nighttime festivals, and a hearing loop at the airport.
Ms Saffery said she and her team plan to get the ball rolling on those suggestions.
“We’ll be letting council know what the community suggested and also working with our partners in state government around transport,” she said.
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