Blind Perth woman Nihal Iscel among those with a disability impacted by Metronet rail disruption

A peak disability organisation says more can be done to meet accessibility needs during the shutdown of the Armadale and Thornlie trainline in Perth.

Transcript

00:00Nihalish Chell is settling into her new apartment in Victoria Park.

00:06It was very inconvenient because I was stuck at home.

00:09I couldn't socialise, I couldn't go to my parents' place unless they came to pick me

00:15up.

00:16The 58-year-old was born blind and lives by herself, relying on support workers and family

00:21members but she likes to use public transport.

00:25She says when construction commenced at Carlisle Station in November, no replacement buses

00:30came within an accessible distance.

00:33After appealing to the local and state government, the disability advocate was offered a free

00:38taxi scheme to get around.

00:40But she says they weren't always reliable and she prefers public transport.

00:45It was very difficult.

00:47So I thought the only thing to do then for me was to sell the place and find somewhere

00:54more accessible.

00:56The shutdown is part of the state government's multi-billion dollar Metronet project removing

01:01level crossings to speed up trains.

01:03Seven new stations will be built with the line extended out to Byford.

01:08But there's still 10 months left of shutdowns impacting thousands of commuters.

01:13In Armadale, disability support workers Trish and Michelle say their clients have also struggled

01:19with the shutdown.

01:20A lot of them do rely on that transport and the funding to help with the transport so

01:27with all of that down at the moment they've had to seek alternatives which is outside

01:30of their scope and outside of their budget as well.

01:33The state government says it understands the shutdown has been disruptive but insists one

01:38of the benefits will be improved disability access.

01:42It says it's been working closely with people impacted.

01:45For example working with individuals providing taxi vouchers and working on one on one to

01:51ensure that they have accessibility.

01:53Meanwhile Nihal is learning how to get around her new suburb and enjoying her freedom to

01:59do so.