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T. Vlk, C. Berkowitsch, G. Hauger, M. Wanjek:
"Overlooked Transport Participants - Mentally Impaired but Still Mobile";
in: "IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering", IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering, 2017, 8 pages.

Providing an inclusive transport system is a global ambition. Whereas, mobility
needs and mobility barriers of people suffering from a physical impairment have already been
observed frequently, people suffering from mental impairments (due to e.g. anxiety disorders,
obsessive-compulsive disorders, dementia or other degenerative diseases) are often overlooked.
Numerous studies already suggest that the number of people with mental impairment will
significantly increase due to the demographic change and is also shown by the prevalence of
mental diseases. Whereby, not even the data collected do necessarily give the full picture of the
actual situation. Thus, the importance of mobility needs and mobility problems of people with
mental impairments will gain dramatically. Participating in the transport system is a basic need
that furthermore requires the ability of adopting different roles (e.g. driver, pedestrian). Due to
explanatory studies of the authors, it could be shown what kind of problems people with
mental impairment are faced with while participating in the transport system or interacting in
public space. Thus, these studies represent the first step that is needed to consider the specific
needs of people with mental impairments in future planning. The identified problems of people
who are suffering from mental impairment are various. Thereby it can be distinguished
between problems triggered by structural (e.g. absence of emergency buttons, spacious
stations), organisational (e.g. absence of security stuff, lacking information according time
table of transit) or social conditions (e.g. crowed places or vehicles, stigmatisation). This paper
presents an overall view of specific requirements of people with mental impairment and
suggests possible solutions for planning and designing an inclusive transport system.

http://publik.tuwien.ac.at/files/publik_266678.pdf