For access consultancy proposals, you can explore the following resources:
Real Proposals: Download real consulting proposals from firms like McKinsey, BCG, and Bain to get inspiration and structure ideas for your own proposals.
Government Requests for Proposals (RFPs): Check for RFPs related to access consultancy, such as the one for a UK City of Culture, which invites proposals for capital and building projects.
Access Consultant Services: Look for services that provide access consultancy, including design reviews and access audits, to ensure compliance with accessibility standards.
These resources can help you understand the requirements and structure for consultancy proposals in the access consultancy field.
Manningham House has introduced powerful Accessibility Tools to ensure an inclusive experience for everyone!
Colour Modes
Grayscale for calm viewing.
High Contrast to make things pop.
Negative Contrast for cool clarity.
Enhanced Readability
Light Background for ease on the eyes.
Links Underline for clear navigation.
Readable Font for smooth reading.
And the best part?
If you ever need to go back to default, just hit Reset!
Celebrate our launch with us and explore a website that adapts to YOUR needs. Let’s create a more accessible web together! Navigate and send us feedback!
I am impressed with Manningham House. Accessibility Tools help to enhance Access Consultancy!
Access consultancy is a service that provides advice on how to make buildings and environments more accessible and inclusive for people with disabilities and other protected characteristics. Access Consultancy covers a wide range of areas like:
Wheelchair Accessibility
Digital Accessibility
Web Accessibility
Welcome to The view from where I sit versus The view from where you sit!
DISABILITY RIGHTS:
There are different pieces of legislation that relate to access consultancy, such as: The Equality Act 2010, which requires service providers, employers, education providers and others to make reasonable adjustments for disabled people and to avoid discrimination based on protected characteristics.
Article 54 of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010 requires that a person with a disability to have: access and facilitation in educational institutions, reasonable access to all places, and access to device material. Additionally, at least 5% of elective and appointive positions are to be for PWDs.
I just recently found out that March 1st is International Wheelchair Day! International Wheelchair Day, is a global celebration of the profound impact wheelchairs have on the lives of millions around the world.
International Wheelchair Day 2024 promotes mobility, access, and inclusion. This is very important for access consultancy.
Key takeaways
International Wheelchair Day was celebrated on March 1, 2024, to raise awareness of the challenges faced by wheelchair users and promote inclusion.
The theme for this year’s celebration was ‘Mobility, access and inclusion: Empowering independence’.
United Spinal Association urged people to recognize the day and support disability inclusion.
The National Register of Access Consultants (NRAC), which is an independent accreditation service for individuals who provide access consultancy and access auditor services in the UK. The Information and Consultation Regulations, which require employers to establish arrangements for informing and consulting their employees on certain matters.
Kenya has not been able to meet the standards of this article due lack of political goodwill, ignorance of the law, and general and intentional overlook of the plight of PWD. Persons with Disabilities are still considered as people who should sit somewhere and wait for help and care.
In the few employment opportunities, is the work environment disability friendly to enable PWD thrive? The answer is NO!
1. What is the level of representation for PWD? 2. What is the level of accessibility? 3. What is the level of access to development and personal growth, 4. Are PWD considered for promotional opportunities? 5. What is the level of inclusivity in the organization or integration is the order of the day?
We must seek to answer these insightful questions to help us in identifying the gaps.
The Constitution under the Bill of Rights recognizes in Article 54 that persons with disabilities are entitled to be treated with dignity and respect and not to be referred to in a manner that is demeaning, to access educational institutions and facilities, to reasonable access to all places, public transport and information, to use sign language, Braille or other appropriate means of communication and to access materials and devices.
The International Symbol of Accessibility, that white stick figure in a wheel chair on a blue background, was developed in 1969. It was borne of a contest held by the International Commission on Technology and Accessibility, which was won by Susanne Kofoed of Copenhagen, Denmark. Kofoed’s original design didn’t include a head (probably because she was trying to keep the figure unisex) so it wasn’t used right away; but once the head was added, it became quite popular.
The Commission chose the blue background simply because it provided a nice contrast with the white stick figure, making the symbol easily visible on all kinds of surfaces. That said, the little stick figure might change some time in the future, as some parties are arguing that not all disabled people use a wheel chair and the figure needs to be more representative of other disabilities.
This is a good start for disability representation and wheelchair accessibility. I hope the little stick figure changes in the near future so that it can change our worldview on medical conditions and the general outlook on life for people with different exceptionalities.
Web accessibility, or e-Accessibility, is the inclusive practice of ensuring there are no barriers that prevent interaction with, or access to, websites on the World Wide Web by people with physical disabilities, situational disabilities, and socio-economic restrictions on bandwidth and speed.
Misconception #1: web accessibility is about disability.
It’s not. Web accessibility is about universality. It’s about making something that can be used by as many people as possible. Different environments, different devices, elderly, different cultural backgrounds, non-English speakers and impaired abilities. 11.2 million people in the UK, are registered as having a disability. Eighty-three percent of disabled people acquire a disability during their working life.
Disabled people in the UK are estimated to have the spending power of at least eighty billion per year. The majority of disabilities are not visible. Less than eight percent of disabled people use a wheelchair. We need to make our websites easy to use for everyone, including the hearing impaired, those with limited mobility, those with reading difficulties and anyone using hand-held devices.
So why do we do it?
By making your content more accessible more people in more locations can read your information and they will understand it more easily.
After all, you want everyone to get your message, right?
Accessibility is also a legal requirement under the Equality Act of 2010.
Misconception #2: web accessibility is not my problem.
It is. Web accessibility is everyone’s responsibility. We’re all in this together what you do makes a difference.
So what do people need?
People need information that is easy to read that works on different devices and that is easy to navigate. It also needs good design and colour contrast, images and graphs that are described well, has video captions or transcriptions, has documents and attachments in a format that can be used by everyone everywhere. Remember what you do at the start makes it easier at the end and your content gets published faster.
On December 3, 2020, I was a panelist for a Virtual Conference hosted by the WindReach in Bermuda. This virtual conference was held in honour of ‘International Day of People with Disabilities’.
Conference objective:
Due to COVID-19, but even before, the needs and voices of People Living with Disabilities were often not made a priority in our social world, in our workplaces, in our schools or even in their own care and goals. Focusing our main topics of understanding on the history of disability, employment, accessibility, stigma, people’s misperceptions, and encouraging self-advocacy, we hope to address many of the issues facing Bermudians living with disabilities.
This conference is meant to shine a light on the disability community as a whole, give space for their voices to be heard and to work on solutions to better the lives of all individuals. Everyone benefits when we collectively move towards a more inclusive society. There were ASL interpreters present throughout the whole conference. It was well organised and things went smoothly.
During the conference, I shared the subject of Disability & Accessibility in Bermuda (Panel) alongside Chris Bulley, Vince Godber from Vision Bermuda & Keith Simmons.
This discussion was between Panelists on the state of accessibility in Bermuda, what are the issues facing individuals accessing public and private establishments, transportation, and health care from an access perspective. Examine what laws are in place to address this, how they are used and how we can move forward to create a more accessible Bermuda.
I also discussed how I’ve explored the option of marketing myself as an Access Consultant, and how we could do with more in Bermuda.
I have always advocated and written articles on the subject of Wheelchair Accessibility, especially while growing up in Bermuda. This has been a longstanding issue in Bermuda, at least since 2006. I’ve even attended a ‘Brown Bag Lunch’ with Bermuda’s former Premier Dr. Ewart Brown, to discuss subjects like Wheelchair Accessibility amongst other things.
This is a photo of former Premier Dr. Ewart Brown’s first Brown Bag Lunch.
Accessibility can be viewed as the “ability to access” and benefit from some system or entity. The concept often focuses on people with disabilities or special needs (such as the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities) and their right of access, enabling the use of assistive technology.
Bermuda is not wheelchair-friendly. But in the City of Hamilton, some roads have disabled-friendly sidewalks. Bermuda’s sidewalks are often very busy with pedestrians, can be steep, are not always on both sides of the road and traffic on the main road between sidewalks is often dense. It is a very hilly, with few flat places, not good for disabled people confined to a wheelchair who are not accompanied by a spouse or caregiver with the strength to lift them. Main roads are very narrow and almost always busy during the weekday especially. There are now sidewalks with sloping ramps uniformly throughout the most frequently traveled tourism and international business areas of the city. The Town of St. George is slowly improving. It is semi-rural. http://www.bermuda-online.org/disabledinBermuda.htm.
Wheelchair Accessibility and mobility issues are additional problems that wheelchair users face daily. I experienced this many times in Bermuda, especially at school. Access alleviates the amount of limitations and restrictions on wheelchair users. Failing to ensure wheelchair accessibility is neglecting to provide reasonable adjustments. It is like functioning in dysfunction. Fortunately AccessAdvisr helps to tackle this in England. I still think that people must be mindful.
Accessibility Consultation and Disability Services (ADS) provides inspections, assessment, and consultations for accessibility requirements like ramps, door sizes, for new buildings and renovations. The purpose of this service is to help ensure and promote accessibility for all. The Accessibility Officer reviews planning applications, upon the request of the Department of Planning or the applicant, to help ensure buildings meet accessibility requirements. For more information about the Building Codes in Bermuda visit The Department of Planning Website: https://www.gov.bm/accessibility-consultation.
The Department of Planning has Building Control. Building Control consults with other government agencies, reviews building permit applications for compliance with Building Codes and may require professional engineer certification of structures before issuance of building permits.
Building Control building and electrical inspectors visit the sites where construction is underway to inspect work and determine if work is in accordance with the planning approval and the building permit. It is the responsibility of the property owner to ensure inspections are requested and the owner may be required to obtain a professional engineer certification of works which have not been inspected. Requests for Certificates of Completion/Occupancy, whether partial or final, must be made in writing: https://planning.gov.bm/index.php/building-control/.
Additionally, Bermuda businesses are taking steps to improve accessibility. In 2019, Bermuda joined the UK’s business initiative called ‘Purple Tuesday’. Companies and individuals can register in advance using an online form or can speak with accessibility advocates in Hamilton, where sign-up details are taken in-person and additional information is available.
This initiative is part of a National Tourism Plan effort to ensure Bermuda becomes a more accessible destination for people with disabilities, an effort that will not only set the island apart but also benefit Bermudians, too.
However, I get really annoyed with drivers who park across dropped kerbs. Dropped kerbs are meant to make it easy for wheelchairs to enter and exit sidewalks. Some drivers even park on top of the sidewalks blocking the walkway. We need to clamp down on this with a fine both in the UK and Bermuda.
One solution to resolve this is through installing ramps and lifts.
Having this event is one good way to make some noise about Wheelchair Accessibility. The purpose of this virtual conference is to find a common ground on this relentless issue so that we can move forward together as a community. Finding a solution might mean compromising things for the greater good to move Bermuda forward.
But we need more help. We need more allies, pressure groups, focus groups and need to get more people with disabilities in Parliament and The Human Rights Commission.
I am very thankful and happy that I was given the opportunity to be a panelist for this virtual conference. I hope this virtual conference can encourage positive change and bring about a ‘new reality’ for disabled Bermudians and disabled tourists.
Dealing with Disability in the Church hasn’t been all that bad for me. First of all, I’d like to start out by saying, I’ve attended church all my life. I love church. I get involved in church services mainly by serving on the Audiovisual/Technical Team. I enjoy this.
While living in Bradford I noticed that their churches have their own private buses to pick up and drop off their members.
Now I’ve got one ‘bone to pick.’ Why are public buses in England expected to be wheelchair accessible but not private buses? Just an observation.
However, whenever I asked to use it instead of taxis, I was told they do not take wheelchairs for liability reasons. Also I noticed the church I first attended, had a wheelchair section for easy access in case of a fire. I also attended a university campus church in Bradford.
On the other hand, while living in Ilkley, there is one church that has a disability ministry for those with intellectual disabilities called the Ark, which meets the first Sunday of every month from 3pm to 6pm. Some other churches may even have Sign Language interpreters for the hearing impaired.
In relation to handling disability, churches should take on The Good Samaritan Approach.
Prayer
I appreciate prayers. I have been asked to be prayed for and gladly accepted such. It can be slightly frustrating when your expectation for a change is so high and it doesn’t come which has discouraged me at times. But I do believe in miracles.
However, I also know someone who has autism of a different persuasion. Her experiences in the church have almost never been positive. Many times, Christians have prayed for her to be healed of autism.
She does not personally want to be “healed” of autism, because she believes that God intentionally allows some people to be born with autism or Down Syndrome for his own good reasons, and that these people are fearfully and wonderfully made in the image of God, and perfect just the way they are. They do not need to be healed; God made them like that.
She feels that her autism is an integral part of who she is, and is not a negative thing, but rather a positive one. She does not feel that autism holds her back.
When church people pray for her to be healed of autism, without asking her first whether she wants healing, or despite my objections to what they’re doing, that does not empower me. They are deciding on my behalf what direction they think my life should take, but they do not have that right; it’s my life. People with disabilities deserve to be in control of their own lives.
Instead of being “healed,” all she wants is to be accepted by the church for the peculiar, wonderful, autistic person who she is. She needs acceptance and inclusion.
When people pray for her to be healed of autism, she perceives them to be indirectly saying,
“I want God to change you into a normal person, for my own comfort, because I can’t handle that we have a disabled person in our church. I don’t want to deal with having to include disabilities, so it’s easier if I can just try to heal them instead.”
She fully believes that God does have the power to heal people. But she also believes that when church members wish to pray for a disabled person’s healing, they need to first ask that person whether he or she wants healing or not. If the disabled individual declines the offer, church members need to fully respect this, and not keep pushing healing on the person.
It is good to be content and happy with life. I do agree to some extent. There is also a way of embracing disability without accepting it as if there’s no hope.
In other words exhibit faith, despite the odds! Don’t glorify the problem, glorify the problem solver.
Stating the facts about one’s medical condition isn’t necessarily claiming it but acknowledging that something is different about the way a person functions. We shouldn’t live in denial and shame, especially if people ask genuine questions out of curiosity.
The Stigma around Medical Intervention
Another subject I don’t understand is the notion that surgery or taking medicine isn’t faith. I believe God can heal through medical science. Sometimes medical intervention is part of the process. There is also nothing wrong with prayer and a psychologist, social worker or carers.
Besides, faith without works is dead. I also notice that people tend to judge by appearances. I’m not looking for pity but inclusion.
Wheelchair Accessibility: Functioning in Dysfunction
Some churches in England have a health and safety policy where they have designated seating for the physically challenged. They’re also wheelchair accessible for the most part too.
Wheelchair Accessibility and mobility issues are just some of the problems that the physically challenged face. Access alleviates the amount of limitations and restrictions on wheelchair users. Failing to ensure wheelchair accessibility is neglecting to provide reasonable adjustments. It is like functioning in dysfunction.
I get really annoyed with drivers who park across dropped kerbs. Dropped kerbs are meant to make it easy for wheelchairs to enter and exit sidewalks. I think that drivers should either be fined or vehicles towed.
Alternatively, if the church building isn’t wheelchair accessible, there is the option of watching services online, but then the problem with that is, one can’t mix and mingle with other believers.
I suppose this will always be an issue depending on where one lives. There are many other issues that this subject can cover but this video should do the job.
Why should your church be Disability Friendly?
Disabled shoppers now have equality in business called the ‘Purple Pound’. The Purple Pound represents the spending power of the disabled household. A disabled household is a household in which at least one of the members has a disability.
The Purple Pound here in England is equivalent to the Black Dollar in America. This is England’s way of ensuring Inclusive Marketing for the disabled population.
Organisations are missing out on the business of disabled consumers due to poor accessibility (both physical and digital) and not being disability confident in their customer services approach. Out of this came ‘The Purple Shopper’.
The Purple shopper was created to make the disabled person’s shopping experience a personal one, where stores are accessible at their convenience. No more queuing at checkouts, no over bright and loud environments.
Businesses can join this initiative and become a Purple Shopper by signing up on their website at http://www.purpleshopper.co.uk.
The Power of the Purple Pound
In the UK, it is thought that some seven million people of working age have a disability, which all adds up to an awful lot of spending power.
It is reckoned to be worth around £249 billion to the economy.
According to statistics, 75% of disabled people have left a store or website due to inaccessibility. To combat this, ‘Purple Tuesday’ came into effect.
Purple Tuesday 2020 is a change programme for organisations of all sizes from all sectors to get involved in, with the common goal of improving the customer experience for disabled people 365 days a year.
Purple Tuesday is about creating a step change improvement in the awareness of the value and needs of disabled customers. It is about making the customer experience accessible.
Participating organisations will make public commitments (a minimum of one new activity or initiative) to ensure sustainable changes are made. For organisations, this will result in the opening up of products and services to the disability market.
Access consultants provide professional advice on how to develop inclusive environments in accordance with the Equality Act 2010. They help to reinforce this law.
Wheelchair accessibility and mobility issues are just some of the problems that access consultants look at and try to solve. Businesses are required by the Equality Act 2010 to make reasonable adjustments to allow anyone to use a building or a facility, including those who, to pick just one example use wheelchairs.
A prime example of what access consultants do is Access Rating.
WHAT IS ACCESS RATING?
Access Rating is an idea established by and for the community of disabled people based in the UK. Inclusion is the concept. Nowadays, there is an app for it too. This app helps access consultants do their job efficiently: it is available for Android and IOS and is called, appropriately, “Access Rating”
This app is the brainchild of Mark Esho, Rich Copson and Jignesh Vaidya. It allows customers and access consultants to critique businesses’ compliance with the access criteria set out in the Equality Act.
Mark Esho and Martyn Sibley recently assessed the disabled community’s opinion of the app during The Daily Sib Show via YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxtiRAMiSSA
This app shows to business owners and operators that the disabled community can add value to their business: most businesspersons do not see the physically impaired as customers – but they spend money and contribute to the economy just like anyone else. Neglecting wheelchair accessibility is also a good example of bad customer service.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
you can submit a review in 30 seconds
upvote and downvote reviews
over 240,000 venues are included
you can suggest new venues to add
BENEFITS OF THIS APP
Free to download and use
broad scope of wheelchair accessible venues in the UK
makes event planning easy
accurate
plans to make it international
It works as a digital travel directory for the physically challenged. This app also exposes discrimination and promotes inclusion. It revolutionises the way wheelchair users socialise and is extremely useful for access consultants in their research. For more information, feel free to browse the website at https://www.accessrating.com/app/, or email them at info@accessrating.com.
This is the first segment of my article series ‘Dealing with Disability’. In this article, I will cover Dealing with Disability on the Job, using examples from my personal experiences.
Lived Experience
How does one handle disability in the workplace?
While living in Bermuda, I’ve had sporadic summer jobs and work experience. One paid job was working as a Junior Counselor at an inclusive Summer camp for disabled and non-disabled children.
Another paid summer job included representing Bermuda at the London 2012 Paralympic Games as a reporter. That was fun and unforgettable.
However, after graduating from university in 2017, my real career development and job searching began. My personal experience with job searching has been very tough.
Job hunting can be quite frustrating for the disabled community. We have special skill sets based on level of ability.
The problem is, we need a job to get work experience, and we need work experience to get a job. Going from interview to interview without any success can be quite discouraging.
Nowadays, there are an increasing number of disabled people starting businesses because the job searching and interview process is proving to be difficult.
If you desire to apply for benefits, you must be eligible for it. Before one is eligible, they must have a financial assessment. The unemployed who are actively seeking work can apply for the Jobseekers’ Allowance which is paid into their bank accounts from their local Jobcentre, fortnightly.
There is also the Employment Support Allowance and Universal Credit that one can apply for.
Business owners are entitled to the Income Support Scheme. All of this is provided at the local Jobcentre Plus through the Department of Works and Pensions.
Purple Tuesday is an accessibility initiative for businesses and I am proud to know that Bermuda has joined this community. This initiative promotes inclusive marketing for the disabled shopper.(www.purpletuesday.org.uk)
All employers are expected to make reasonable adjustments, especially for wheelchair users. They’re also expected to conduct risks assessments for health and safety reasons. They should also provide a Personal Emergency Evacuation Plan in case of any emergencies like fires or flooding.
From personal experience, I know that, the Park Place Jobcentre in Leeds, England, definitely prioritises and values the disabled community because they take precautionary measures first.
For example, during a placement that I completed under the Department of Works and Pensions at the Park Place Jobcentre, I had to complete a risk assessment for them to make reasonable adjustments in order for me to start the placement. This included checking the accessibility of escape routes for fire drills.
All employers have some level of a duty of care and can be held liable for accidents.
Employers must look at job design. Job design should play to people’s strengths. Talents and skills are important.
Employers should not give disabled people jobs out of sympathy. Problem solving skills make disabled people good candidates because they always have to overcome barriers which could make one employable.
Inclusive Workplaces
Channel 4 is a Disability Confident employer and they judge job applicants on their abilities against job descriptions. They try their best to recruit from groups in society that are underrepresented.
Job Agencies for the disabled include Remploy, Evenbreak and Scope. Remploy helps get our disabled community into cleaning jobs unless they have alternative career goals.
There’s a consultation agency called Inclusive Employers which also does this. Inclusive Employers is an organisation created to help employers develop an inclusive workplace, avoid the pitfalls of discrimination and get more from their workforce.
Inclusive Employers provides knowledge and networks to help build workplaces where people feel valued, and can add value. Their employer members are committed to creating an inclusive workplace, maximising the potential of all employees. They strive to lead the way in breaking barriers and building success.
Delsion Ltd. is another inclusive employer known as the People & Development Consultancy. They’re the award winning specialists in Learning & Development, Diversity & Inclusion and all things that help people and organisations reach their true potential.
Why should organisations employ disabled people? Why not? Political correctness is the enemy of inclusion. Political correctness is the avoidance of forms of expression or action that are perceived to exclude, marginalize, or insult groups of people who are socially disadvantaged or discriminated against.
The alternative is working from home but it doesn’t necessarily promote inclusion or diversity neither does it clamp down on discrimination.
Another interesting aspect is blind interviews vs physical interviews. Blind interviews are better than physical interviews because candidates are judged on skills not memory or tests.
Using technology and specialist equipment can make workplaces more inclusive for people with disabilities too.
Wheelchair Accessibility and mobility issues are just some of the problems that wheelchair users and the physically challenged face daily. Access alleviates the amount of limitations and restrictions on wheelchair users. Failing to ensure wheelchair accessibility is neglecting to provide reasonable adjustments. It is like functioning in dysfunction.
According to the British Government, the British can apply for dropped kerbs. However, I get really annoyed with drivers who park across dropped kerbs. Dropped kerbs are meant to make it easy for wheelchairs to enter and exit sidewalks. The Government needs to clamp down on these drivers with a fine. The same should happen in Bermuda.
AccessAdvisr helps to monitor wheelchair access. Disabled people going places. AccessAdvisr Board members are Rob Trent and Martyn Sibley.(https://accessadvisr.net)
The AccessAdvisr website allows disabled people to rate and find first-hand accessibility information. Photographs can also be uploaded alongside reviews. This helps to tackle wheelchair accessibility issues. It also encourages accountability and inclusion.
So, in ‘Dealing with Disability on the Job’, we must work towards inclusion, equality and diversity in the workplace by creating inclusion in the workplace, and inclusive workplaces. This could possibly help to improve the economy on a global scale. All jobs should be Disability Confident. I think Bermuda should also adopt this scheme to work on a better future for Bermudians.
You must be logged in to post a comment.