Gatwick Airport v Haneda Airport- Assistance for physically disabled passengers
Author: Harry Potter
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Abstract
It is crucial that physically disabled passengers feel comfortable and safe when in an airport environment. As a result, the paper critically compares and analyses the practices of Gatwick and Haneda Airport to explore what facilities and services they provide and the consequences of them.
Key Words
Disability, Airport, Assistance, Social Exclusion, Universal Design
Discussion Paper
Ten percent of the world’s population have a disability to some extent, which equates to around 650 million people. Combine this with the rapidly growing tourism industry, it is crucial that airports assist disabled passengers through the airport process. The paper focuses on assistance for physically disabled passengers by critically comparing and analysing approaches taken by Gatwick and Haneda Airport.
Gatwick, in London, is the world’s busiest single runway airport as it serves about 34.2 million passengers each year. Haneda, Tokyo, on the other hand, serves almost 60 million passengers every year but has four runways. This shows Haneda Airport is significantly larger than Gatwick as it has four times the number of runways and serves almost twice as many passengers, but how does assistance for physically disabled passengers compare?
Firstly, both airports provide seating for physically disabled passengers, however, the approaches they take vary and the effects of this are significant. In Haneda airport, the seating areas for disabled passengers and able-bodied passengers are combined, making disabled passengers feeling more integrated into society and into the airport environment. Gatwick has taken a different approach by creating a separate seating area for passengers with disabilities. This can have many affects including disabled passengers feeling excluded or even rejected by society, a concept known as social exclusion.
A useful definition of social exclusion is given by Claypool and Bernstein (2014, p571) of ‘when individuals are deprived of social connections because they are rejected, ostracized or excluded’. The example of the seating areas above, bring in all three of these feelings and shows that the approach taken by Haneda is more effective than Gatwick’s.
The concept of universal design is important to apply as a way of reducing the risk of social exclusion. A clear and credible definition of this notion comes from Storey et al (1998, in Nunn et al, 2009, p11) who describes it as ‘designing products and environments to be useful to the greatest extent possible by people of all ages and abilities’. By implementing universal design into features in an airport, it makes them useable by every passenger, even if they have a disability.
An example of where universal design has been applied efficiently comes from Haneda Airport’s toilets. They can be used by both able-bodied and disabled passengers, meaning the risk of social exclusion is reduced significantly. In addition, at the entrance to the toilets at Haneda Airport, there is an information panel that shows the layout of the toilets and provides the information in brail and as audio. As a result, passengers with disabilities will feel comfortable using the same toilets as able-bodied passengers. On the other hand, Gatwick takes a different approach. Like the seating areas, toilets for disabled passengers are separate which can make them feel excluded and ostracized.
One criticism about airports is that they sometimes provide the incorrect assistance. For example, partially sighted passengers may be given a wheelchair upon arrival to the airport when transporting themselves about is not the problem; they might just need audio assistance (LaBarre, 2013). Both airports in question have taken this into consideration but Haneda has to a greater extent than Gatwick. Haneda has installed features into the airport such as textured tiles to assist partially sighted passengers to get to a help desk and building information displays that provide passengers with important information about the airport in both audio and visual formats. Gatwick has installed hearing loops around the airport to assist passengers with hearing aids, however, this is one of the only features that assist passengers with loss of hearing and unlike Haneda, Gatwick provides little visual information and assistance.
As can be seen from the examples above, Haneda Airport is significantly more advanced than Gatwick Airport in terms of providing assistance for physically disabled passengers. They incorporate the concept of universal design more effectively and efficiently as a way to reduce passengers feeling socially included. The features and services that Haneda provided make disabled passengers feel more comfortable and included into the airport environment whereas Gatwick’s facilities are more likely to make disabled passengers feel ‘rejected, ostracized or excluded’. The full conference paper explores the assistance provided by both airports in more detail, provides a review of the literature as well as recommendations for other airports based on the findings from the research.
Three Most Important References
Claypool, H and Bernstein, M (2014) Social Exclusion and Stereotyping: Why and When Exclusion Fosters Individuation of Others, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 106(4), 571-589
Gatwick Airport (2014) PRM Facilities, http://www.gatwickairport.com/at-the-airport/passenger-facilities/reduced-mobility/prm-facilities/, [Accessed 28/4/2014]
NIDirect (2014) Airport and Airline Services for Travellers with Disabilities, http://www.nidirect.gov.uk/airport-and-airline-services-for-travellers-with-disabilities, [Accessed 28/4/2014]
It is crucial that physically disabled passengers feel comfortable and safe when in an airport environment. As a result, the paper critically compares and analyses the practices of Gatwick and Haneda Airport to explore what facilities and services they provide and the consequences of them.
Key Words
Disability, Airport, Assistance, Social Exclusion, Universal Design
Discussion Paper
Ten percent of the world’s population have a disability to some extent, which equates to around 650 million people. Combine this with the rapidly growing tourism industry, it is crucial that airports assist disabled passengers through the airport process. The paper focuses on assistance for physically disabled passengers by critically comparing and analysing approaches taken by Gatwick and Haneda Airport.
Gatwick, in London, is the world’s busiest single runway airport as it serves about 34.2 million passengers each year. Haneda, Tokyo, on the other hand, serves almost 60 million passengers every year but has four runways. This shows Haneda Airport is significantly larger than Gatwick as it has four times the number of runways and serves almost twice as many passengers, but how does assistance for physically disabled passengers compare?
Firstly, both airports provide seating for physically disabled passengers, however, the approaches they take vary and the effects of this are significant. In Haneda airport, the seating areas for disabled passengers and able-bodied passengers are combined, making disabled passengers feeling more integrated into society and into the airport environment. Gatwick has taken a different approach by creating a separate seating area for passengers with disabilities. This can have many affects including disabled passengers feeling excluded or even rejected by society, a concept known as social exclusion.
A useful definition of social exclusion is given by Claypool and Bernstein (2014, p571) of ‘when individuals are deprived of social connections because they are rejected, ostracized or excluded’. The example of the seating areas above, bring in all three of these feelings and shows that the approach taken by Haneda is more effective than Gatwick’s.
The concept of universal design is important to apply as a way of reducing the risk of social exclusion. A clear and credible definition of this notion comes from Storey et al (1998, in Nunn et al, 2009, p11) who describes it as ‘designing products and environments to be useful to the greatest extent possible by people of all ages and abilities’. By implementing universal design into features in an airport, it makes them useable by every passenger, even if they have a disability.
An example of where universal design has been applied efficiently comes from Haneda Airport’s toilets. They can be used by both able-bodied and disabled passengers, meaning the risk of social exclusion is reduced significantly. In addition, at the entrance to the toilets at Haneda Airport, there is an information panel that shows the layout of the toilets and provides the information in brail and as audio. As a result, passengers with disabilities will feel comfortable using the same toilets as able-bodied passengers. On the other hand, Gatwick takes a different approach. Like the seating areas, toilets for disabled passengers are separate which can make them feel excluded and ostracized.
One criticism about airports is that they sometimes provide the incorrect assistance. For example, partially sighted passengers may be given a wheelchair upon arrival to the airport when transporting themselves about is not the problem; they might just need audio assistance (LaBarre, 2013). Both airports in question have taken this into consideration but Haneda has to a greater extent than Gatwick. Haneda has installed features into the airport such as textured tiles to assist partially sighted passengers to get to a help desk and building information displays that provide passengers with important information about the airport in both audio and visual formats. Gatwick has installed hearing loops around the airport to assist passengers with hearing aids, however, this is one of the only features that assist passengers with loss of hearing and unlike Haneda, Gatwick provides little visual information and assistance.
As can be seen from the examples above, Haneda Airport is significantly more advanced than Gatwick Airport in terms of providing assistance for physically disabled passengers. They incorporate the concept of universal design more effectively and efficiently as a way to reduce passengers feeling socially included. The features and services that Haneda provided make disabled passengers feel more comfortable and included into the airport environment whereas Gatwick’s facilities are more likely to make disabled passengers feel ‘rejected, ostracized or excluded’. The full conference paper explores the assistance provided by both airports in more detail, provides a review of the literature as well as recommendations for other airports based on the findings from the research.
Three Most Important References
Claypool, H and Bernstein, M (2014) Social Exclusion and Stereotyping: Why and When Exclusion Fosters Individuation of Others, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 106(4), 571-589
Gatwick Airport (2014) PRM Facilities, http://www.gatwickairport.com/at-the-airport/passenger-facilities/reduced-mobility/prm-facilities/, [Accessed 28/4/2014]
NIDirect (2014) Airport and Airline Services for Travellers with Disabilities, http://www.nidirect.gov.uk/airport-and-airline-services-for-travellers-with-disabilities, [Accessed 28/4/2014]