Contorted, Folded, Torn: Environmental Values, Cartographic Representation and the Politics of Disability

This paper explores the merit of incorporating the personal geographies of individuals with impaired mobility into the production of access and mobility maps. If cartographers take it upon themselves to produce maps without first seeking to understand these geographies or images of place, they are likely to infuse their work with their own values and meanings. This becomes especially important if it is accepted that maps may have a political role. The issue of accessibility is inherently political, cities are literally crippled when members of their population are restricted from reaching their full potential due to inadequate planning and design. The paper describes an attempt to develop a cartographic process which incorporates the values of the user group into all stages of map design. The project highlights the complex nature of environmental imagery and the merit of producing symbolic cartographic representations of environmental values.