I have been
an independent disability equality advocate for over fourteen years, running
All Inclusive CIC. My business style has always focused on the positives of
disability inclusion in the built environment, in designing and developing
services, inclusion in strategic and development decision-making within
organisations, and delivering inclusive customer service. I feel with any
organisation that I work with, this philosophy encourages a culture of
embedding and promoting good practice for disability inclusion to happen. In
turn, this improves deep understanding across local communities for disabled
people.
My fear now,
is that post-Coronavirus, economics will now rule all business and voluntary
sectors, potentially damaging the hard work to improve disability inclusion that
All Inclusive, and other organisations like mine, have done over the last
twenty years and more. The purple pound is still a concept with underwhelmed momentum.
The potential spending power of disabled people, and the key to unlock this
potential, isn’t really understood by commerce and industry. The key to
unlocking the purple pound potential understanding is inclusive design, both within
the built environment and in the development of services. Post Coronavirus
training, beyond subjects for a company’s compliance, will be shelved because
of lack of financial resources and high employment will impact on the number of
disabled people employed. The care system, that many disabled people rely on,
is creaky even on its knees in certain areas, and this assessment was before
the pandemic. Looking at the future when we start piecing this back to normal,
I dread even to think. Councils will have even less money, post Coronavirus, to
invest in care services. This raises
four questions for me:
· Is the picture this black?
· Is disability equality totally
reliant on financial resources to improve?
· Is inclusive design all about
expensive changes?
· Can the purple pound help the
economy improve?
For the
sake of this article, I am going to personalise some of the issues to illustrate
what I am saying, but, hopefully, it also highlights the wider implications.
Let’s start
with the question that encompasses all four questions; is the future for
disability equality bleak and black? Initially maybe, but one of the overriding
strengths of the disability sector is creativity. We have always either solved
problems, developed service solutions or improved the general thinking on
disability, on a shoe string of a budget. So, when this recession hits, many of
us in the sector will adapt and survive. Disability crosses all the
characteristic strands of equality, and therefore, it effects all sorts of
minority communities. I am an optimist and I believe, for my own organisation,
if we can survive somehow for the next 18 months, the economic curve downwards,
that every sector is facing, will start heading back up. I am under no illusion
that the Coronavirus pandemic will change the world of work forever. Yes, some
things will revert back but, for lots of us, the speed of the worldwide spread
of Coronavirus is a big shock; that shock will influence how we act and operate
in the future. So black and bleak for a time, but improving as we adapt.
For me,
inclusive design of the community, the built environment and service
development and design, is the cornerstone of the future of disability
equality. Inclusive design encompasses, and incorporates entirely, the Social
Model of Disability. The hidden benefit is wider than that though. By using the
principles of inclusive design, it makes life a great deal easier for other
sections of society, creating a win win for everyone. Let’s face it, whatever
we do, from shopping to using call centres, if our experience of the customer
service journey is straight forward and simple, no matter our access needs, it
makes life better. We need to move from calling for improved disability access
and call it simply ‘accessibility for all’. I agree, some building
infrastructure changes like fitting an appropriate ramp, lift or accessible
toilet, can be expensive, but there are many more changes to a building that
are about furniture placement, building flow and signage, for example, that may
be inexpensive to alter but have a positive impact on access for disabled
people. Another idea is that if organisations have disabled representation by having
directors, trustees or focus groups that advise the Board, then services, or
the selling of products, will be looked at through the eyes of a disabled
person and access issues can be resolved at source.
I spend lots of my working life delivering experiential
training or talks to improve the customer service journey for disabled people.
For me, the interactions with people are on a par with how accessible a
building or service might be. Indeed, I’ve experienced situations where the
building hasn’t been the most accessible but, because the staff have ‘gone
above and beyond’ to make me feel accommodated and valued as a customer, it has
made that customer journey better. I am not advocating that poor physical
access is acceptable, however, staff attitude plays a major role about how you
feel about a place. In my introduction, I commented that post-Coronavirus,
anything outside compliance training will be an extremely hard sell, just down
to organisations needing to survive. I do not believe it will be impossible,
just that disability equality consultants will need to be resourceful.
I am going to highlight how I believe the purple pound has a
part to play in the economic recovery of the country in my conclusion. It is
fair to admit that today, with things still in partial lockdown, it looks
bleak. Hopefully, in this article, I have expressed how disability equality
will have a positive impact on society. Furthermore, it is about unlocking the
potential revenue of the purple pound. Get physical access and customer service
right, and disabled people can spend more in retail, leisure, and the holiday
market. Employ disabled people; we are creative, resourceful and loyal, all
traits vital to sustain and grow businesses. Consultants like me will add value
to your business medium to long term. Agreed, in the next eighteen months money
will be tight, but investing in disability equality should bring a healthy
return.
Iain Speed
Managing Director
All Inclusive CIC
