120 Facilitators and barriers to inclusive and safe mobility on urban roads in Kathmandu, Nepal: a participatory research study

Background The built environment and transport services can affect the health and well-being of people with a disability. Improving road safety while ensuring the needs of those most exposed to injury are met is fundamental to achieving Sustainable Development Goal 11.2. Research regarding mobility among people with disability is growing. However, there is little evidence to understand their experiences in the road environment including in Nepal. Objective To explore the safety of road environments in Kathmandu, Nepal, for people with disability, and the potential actions that could improve safety. Methods Using participatory research techniques, a qualitative study was conducted in Kathmandu, to interview three groups of participants: people with a disability with or without the support of a caregiver, advocacy practitioners and decision-makers. Participants with a disability were offered the opportunity to use a body-worn camera to record and capture elements of their journeys in urban road environments which they considered relevant to the research topic. These participants were then asked to describe their journey experiences narratively during a semi-structured interview. Anonymised extracts of the material generated by people with disability were presented to the advocates and decision-makers during their interviews, to engage them with specific local examples of the issues, and to gather their perspectives on barriers and facilitators to change. Interviews were transcribed, translated and analysed thematically. Results Seven participants with a disability, five advocacy practitioners and five decision-makers took part in the study. All participants considered traffic and the physical road environment, together with the behaviours of drivers and street vendors, impeded mobility and increased the risk of injuries for people with a disability. The absence of coordination between government agencies and disability-friendly infrastructure standards were major reasons impeding inclusive and safe travel. Conclusions Multiple factors make travel difficult and dangerous for people with disabilities in Kathmandu. Enforcing existing policies and laws would start to address the concerns raised by participants to make the road environments safer - and more inclusive - for all road users.