About Access

About Access provides a wide range of services concerning disabled accessibilty. Not only do we provide access consultancy and accredited practical advice on disabled access to and within buildings, in addition to how the features of a building can impact on accessbility throughout its structure, our services include Design and Access Statements for new planning applications, a requirement in England since 2006, and Access Audits on existing accessibilty issues.

We offer training courses on disability awareness and policies, advice on the Equality Act, in addition to courses for aspiring Access Auditors and guidance for Architects considering accessibility issues.

There is a growing realisation that disabled people have just as much right to gain entry to and use buildings and the services that are provided from them just as much as non-disabled people and it is the law.  Typically it is the Equality Act that drives organisations into becoming more accessible. This has been in place since 1995 with further legislation added in 2005.But many organisations, although they recognise this, do not know what to look for or how disabled people use buildings.

What is “access”? This can mean a lot of different things to different people, but by in large it is about removing the obstacles that are put in the way of people who want to use a service or building. Those obstacles can be physical features e.g. doors too narrow, policy e.g. no dogs, or attitudinal e.g. poor customer service towards disabled people and are often referred to as barriers to access.

Most of us can recognise that a flight of steps is going to be a problem to wheelchair users, so often an alternative route is found or a ramp installed. But this can be the start of things going wrong. The gradient of a ramp and its length are both very important, because if the ramp is too steep there is a chance that a wheelchair user could tip back or fall forward, make the ramp too long and the person who propels themselves up the ramp runs out of steam or the person pushing hasn’t the strength to complete it to the top, so there is guidance which says what a ramps gradient and length should be. But this is just one example and we haven’t mentioned the problems faced by people with other mobility, sensory or cognitive impairments.

About Access can help organisations of all sizes to recognize the problems faced by disabled people as they go about their business, whether its physical barriers, attitudinal or policy. Our experience, knowledge and training can help identify the areas that can be causing problems or help from the start of a project to make it an inclusive one that all can have access to.

Remember that not all disabled people use wheelchairs; there are approximately 10million disabled people and about 8% of these are wheelchair users. Often it is not obvious that a person has a disability and many do not think of themselves as being disabled.