“Early and Often”: Practitioner Perspectives on Developing a Process for Consultation with Disabled Persons’ (Representative) Organisations (DP(R)O) in Active Travel
- 1ASIAM
Abstract
The issue of effective consultation with disabled people regarding planning for infrastructure in the public realm, including active travel infrastructure, is a topical subject. While barriers to active travel participation for disabled individuals are beginning to receive a greater level of attention than they have historically (Cox & Bartle 2020; Inckle 2020; Larrington-Spencer 2025), the lack of access to consultation for disabled people on active travel infrastructure design is less frequently discussed.This is a practical issue for local authority practitioners, who often carry the greatest responsibility for the delivery of active travel infrastructure. This article presents the findings of a roundtable discussion held on March 10, 2025, in Dublin City Council’s Active Travel Programme Office, involving local authority and service design practitioners, as well as Disabled Persons’ Organisation (DPO)/Disabled Persons’ Representative Organisation (DPRO) representatives, to discuss Dublin City Council’s co-designed process for consulting with DPROs in active travel. The discussion was moderated by an external researcher. It introduces Dublin City Council’s motivations for and experience of developing a process for consultation with DPOs/DPROs on active travel projects, as well as identifying a number of challenges in consultation with DPOs/DPROs.Key findings from the discussion include the following: the importance of early engagement with DPO/DPROs, flexibility around the nature of engagement and emphasis on a “living” process which allows for iterative improvements as each active travel project moves through the project lifecycle. As discussed here, the ability to conduct effective consultation on active travel projects with disabled people can be improved by developing consistency around the process for engagement with disabled people. It is hoped that the experiences discussed here in developing such a process will be useful for other practitioners and for other DPO/DPROs working on active travel in Ireland or elsewhere.
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BibTeX
@article{carroll2026early,
title = {{“Early and Often”: Practitioner Perspectives on Developing a Process for Consultation with Disabled Persons’ (Representative) Organisations (DP(R)O) in Active Travel}},
author = {Adrian Carroll and Emmet Ó Briain and Eva Cantwell and Jill McGovern and John Lynch and Marie Gavin and Robert Sinnott},
journal = {Active Travel Studies},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.16997/ats.1911},
url = {https://doi.org/10.16997/ats.1911},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - “Early and Often”: Practitioner Perspectives on Developing a Process for Consultation with Disabled Persons’ (Representative) Organisations (DP(R)O) in Active Travel
AU - Adrian Carroll
AU - Emmet Ó Briain
AU - Eva Cantwell
AU - Jill McGovern
AU - John Lynch
AU - Marie Gavin
AU - Robert Sinnott
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/23
JO - Active Travel Studies
DO - 10.16997/ats.1911
UR - https://doi.org/10.16997/ats.1911
AB - The issue of effective consultation with disabled people regarding planning for infrastructure in the public realm, including active travel infrastructure, is a topical subject. While barriers to active travel participation for disabled individuals are beginning to receive a greater level of attention than they have historically (Cox & Bartle 2020; Inckle 2020; Larrington-Spencer 2025), the lack of access to consultation for disabled people on active travel infrastructure design is less frequently discussed.This is a practical issue for local authority practitioners, who often carry the greatest responsibility for the delivery of active travel infrastructure. This article presents the findings of a roundtable discussion held on March 10, 2025, in Dublin City Council’s Active Travel Programme Office, involving local authority and service design practitioners, as well as Disabled Persons’ Organisation (DPO)/Disabled Persons’ Representative Organisation (DPRO) representatives, to discuss Dublin City Council’s co-designed process for consulting with DPROs in active travel. The discussion was moderated by an external researcher. It introduces Dublin City Council’s motivations for and experience of developing a process for consultation with DPOs/DPROs on active travel projects, as well as identifying a number of challenges in consultation with DPOs/DPROs.Key findings from the discussion include the following: the importance of early engagement with DPO/DPROs, flexibility around the nature of engagement and emphasis on a “living” process which allows for iterative improvements as each active travel project moves through the project lifecycle. As discussed here, the ability to conduct effective consultation on active travel projects with disabled people can be improved by developing consistency around the process for engagement with disabled people. It is hoped that the experiences discussed here in developing such a process will be useful for other practitioners and for other DPO/DPROs working on active travel in Ireland or elsewhere.
SN - 2732-4184
ER -