British disabled people lack confidence in accessibility of public places

A staggering 92 per cent of British disabled people don’t feel confident visiting new places due to accessibility ‘worries’ and 83 per cent admit they've found it difficult to access facilities in the past, a new report has found.

Charity, Euan’s Guide, launched their Access Survey 2017 last autumn to find out what disabled people think about accessibility in public places such as cafes, museums, hotels, shopping centres and sporting venues. Over 700 people were surveyed.

Despite such gloomy findings Euan MacDonald, co-founder of Euan’s Guide said: “Euan’s Guide is all about sharing, and it was fantastic to have over seven-hundred disabled people, their families, friends and carers join in by sharing their thoughts and experiences in The Access Survey 2017.

“The opinions expressed in this survey will help to raise awareness and improve understanding of accessibility, and I am hopeful that future surveys will show positive trends and improvements among venues and the confidence that disabled people have in visiting them.”

Roughly 72 per cent per cent of those surveyed said that they were more likely to visit certain places if they appeared to care about accessibility and had welcoming staff. Over 70 per cent said that they were more likely to make a visit if they can see pictures and read comments from people who had already visited the venue.

Sixty-seven per cent said they like it if a venue has been recommended to them by someone with similar requirements.

The report findings did show that some venues had improved compared to 2016; access in museums were undeniably better, but opinions were divided about public transport, hotels and music venues. For those who need to work harder to improve accessibility, the report highlighted some specifics:

• 69 per cent of disabled people said a venue’s layout, such as narrow corridors, restricted access for them.

• 61 per cent told Euan’s Guide that they have been unable to get into a venue due to a lack of ramp, or heavy doors.

• 53 per cent said that poor accessible toilet provision created difficulties.

Paul Ralph, founder Of Disabled Access Day said: “The Access Survey is a great tool in helping those venues and places understand what is important for their disabled visitors and in providing a warm welcome for everyone.”