The ‘DisabledGo’ guide will provide valuable information on access to hundreds of shops, museums, pubs, restaurants, cinemas and other public venues for people with hearing, vision or mobility related access concerns.
The guide will also enable Glasgow’s business and service providers to contact the huge number of customers who have access concerns. Government statistics indicate that one in five Scottish people are disabled or have a long term illness, this figure is even higher in Glasgow accounting for over a quarter of the city’s population – over 150,000 residents.
By logging on to www.DisabledGo.info people can check, for example, whether a pub is accessible to a wheelchair user, whether a cinema can offer a hearing loop, whether a hotel offers adapted rooms, and whether a restaurant welcomes assistance dogs and offers menus in large print or Braille.
Wheelchair user, and Founder of DisabledGo, Gregory Burke commented, “The constant need to write or telephone to enquire about access really affects people’s confidence to get out and do what they want to do. Never knowing whether a building will be accessible or whether staff will have a helpful attitude makes you think twice before going out. DisabledGo ends that uncertainty by providing detailed access information and enabling people to judge for themselves whether a shop, restaurant or theatre is accessible for their own needs.”
The guide has been produced by social enterprise DisabledGo – with funding provided by Glasgow City Council and Marks & Spencer.
Convener of Glasgow City Council’s Equalities Sub Committee, Councillor Irene Graham, said “More than a quarter of the city’s population (26.16%, compared with a Scottish figure of 20.31%) are either disabled, or have a long-term limiting illness. This new guide will empower them, and many others, and help them get more enjoyment out of the city.”
"The Council is delighted to join one of the largest retailers in the city, Marks and Spencer, to promote this new guide which will allow everyone who works, lives, studies or plays in Glasgow to check access to a wide range of facilities and attractions around the city. It will also help raise awareness among local businesses that a huge number of people are affected by access issues, and that becoming more accessible is all about providing better service to more customers.”
Laura Mitchell, Store Manager, Marks & Spencer Glasgow added: “At Marks & Spencer, we are keen to improve access for all our customers to our products and services. We believe that the DisabledGo website provides comprehensive information, which answers a real need, and will make a genuine difference to disabled people’s daily lives. It’s great that we can support this service here in Glasgow and in other areas across the UK.”
Concluded Gregory Burke, “Disabled people are no small minority. One in six of the British population is disabled and disabled people have an annual spend of £80 billion. Those are numbers that any business or service provider should take seriously. I’m immensely grateful to Marks & Spencer and Glasgow City Council for the support they have given us, and I hope that this guide will open up all that Glasgow has to offer to everyone.
Glasgow is one of 35 pioneering local authorities to work in partnership with DisabledGo as part of its national accessibility project. Glasgow joins Edinburgh as the only current Scottish DisabledGo guides and a further 12 live guides to towns and cities across the UK.
