Interview
Katerina Papamichail
Katerina Papmichail, architect, I specialize on accessibility, of the build environment, universal design, and on accessible tourism. And I'm a member of the European network for for accessible tourism in it.
John Tierney
So we've just attended a very stimulating two sessions on accessibility in I suppose, heritage and tourism and smart tourism, and a lot of the concepts were new to me, and you said something very interesting earlier about information on access, on accessibility being key to accessibility. What does that mean?
KP
That means that we have to inform the visitors before their visit about the accessibility of the site, if they can reach, if they can what transportation, what obstacles they might find. Because even if everything is not suitable for them, it's very, very useful to prepare them and know what is not suitable for them. So you need to assess the accessibility with instructions from experts. So they will help you to set up the questions, and then you inform on these basic topics, all the all the potential visitors. So according to their disabilities or limitations, they know what is suitable for them.
JT
Okay, so if I can, I'm just learning this now. So firstly, we assess, let's say it's a trail. We assess the trail formally for accessibility issues, for people who have different accessibility needs. And then, let's say, on the website, we have a before you visit page so that people can
KP
and you provide this information before you visit with the crucial things with you, with your findings, the good accessibility and also the obstacles that some people might find, so then they're prepared. And that's very, very useful, I think, for an accessible environment, that the first step is information, because it also teaches you what you can improve if you can
JT
Okay. And I must say, what I found particularly stimulating is Katerina that this isn't really, this isn't for people who have disabilities. This is actually about good design for everybody. Everybody that is true for you as an architect, is that your background so for looking at improving physical Yes,
KP
yes, physical access, improving, assessing and improving physical access, and not only because the information should be also provided in accessible formats, because we have different users, so it's accessibility is a chain. Is physical access is is also the digital access is, or everything, the transportation everything is a chain.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
