Disabled? Go go go!

A few months ago, the Town Council hired a social enterprise called DisabledGo to survey shops and restaurants in the town for their accessibility. The idea being that it is good for the town's commerce if people from out of town with access needs can browse the website for where to go and by understanding what facilities are available and where. It is also good for people living in the town too! It is a key part of the Town Council's commitment to making the town as accessible and open as possible

You can find out more from the BTC pages here. The ambition of course is that people from far and wide will come here and spend their money! And that they will enjoy the town like those of us who live here already do. I am proud to be part of a strategy that reflects the fact that the Paralympics started down the road. Of all places, our district should be amongst the most accessible in the country, if not the world!

And so last week, a number of town councillors and members of Buckingham Access for All were trained by DisabledGo to become assessors ourselves. This multiplies our capacity to get all the shops and cafes etc on the database and keep it up to date. And I had a great time visiting a few nearby shops and restaurants to find out what they had by way of access. We kept stressing that this was emphatically not a pass/fail/guilt tripping kind of exercise, merely an information gathering one so that people could decide when and how to visit. (So if your cafe/shop/restaurant is not yet on the database and you would like to be, please contact the town council and all can be arranged.)

Here is part of the team who were trained: Cllr Christine Strain-Clark, her husband Peter, myself and our trainer Emily Edgar (Partnerships Manager)

I was particularly delighted to visit Clinkards who proudly informed us that all staff have done Autism Awareness training and are more than happy to adapt to the special needs of anyone (young or old) who is on the autism spectrum. Just pop in and discuss what is possible, and buy some lovely shoes.

So thanks again to all the places that were part of our training last week. Watch out for more visits! (And thanks to the team from DisabledGo - Emily above and Philip Holt for an excellent day of training)