Social inclusion, accessibility and emotional work

This chapter examines the 'emotional work' involved in gaining accessibility. By emotional work we mean the additional frustration, anxiety and stress some groups experience as a result of a mobility system that does not accommodate their needs. In particular, we focus on the everyday experiences of both new mothers and visually impaired young people as they negotiate London's transport system to illustrate how the burden of this additional form of work is unevenly distributed between social groups. In doing so we foreground the importance of seeing accessibility as a process, and argue that measures of accessibility should be founded on principles of justice maximisation rather than utility.