Direct Access
News

Grenfell Tower authorities failed to consult disabled people on evacuation procedures
Grenfell Tower authorities failed to consult disabled people Direct Access has recently learned that the government repeatedly failed to seek the views of disabled people and their organisations about how residents with physical impairments could evacuate tower blocks in an emergency, six years before the Grenfell Tower disaster. Louise Upton,
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Direct Access strengthens Irish Cooperation with North-West mayors
Direct Access strengthens Irish links with North West mayors Direct Access consultants were honoured to be part of the meeting in the Department of Foreign Affairs, Dublin, on 29 March. The meeting, whose attendants included the Mayors of Greater Manchester and Liverpool City Regions, sets a precedent for ensuing collaborations
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Direct Access renews sponsorship of Nantwich Town Disability Football Club
Direct Access renews sponsorship of Nantwich Town Disability FC Nantwich-based disability firm Direct Access has renewed its commitment to sponsoring the local vision-impaired football team, Nantwich Town Disability Football Club, after initially becoming sponsors back in 2019 when the club went by the name Nantwich Town Wolves VIFC. Over the
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Changing Places Statutory Guidance updated in Northern Ireland
Changing Places Statutory Guidance Updated in Northern Irelad Northern Ireland’s Finance Minister Conor Murphy announced changes to the statutory guidance requirements for Changing Places toilets in Northern Ireland this month. The Amendments Booklet – AMD 8 (2022) provides additional guidance to Technical Booklet R (2012) on access to and use
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New BSI Standard for neurodiversity expected this summer
New BSI Standard for neurodiversity to be published this summer Standards for the designing of buildings and accessibility for users are expected to change in just a few months as the first-ever BSI standard providing guidance on neurodiversity and the built environment will be made official; PAS 6463 Design for
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Is disability access an afterthought for rail operators?
Is disability access an afterthought for rail operators? In the past two years, the world underwent a global state of emergency that forced everyone on Earth to isolate and stay in their homes, which consequently limited our access to everything from seeing and touching those we hold dear, to making
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New Accessibility Guide Published for Mass Transit
New Accessibility Guide Published for Mass Transit The Government has revealed a new accessibility guide laying out ways to combat environmental and infrastructure-related barriers for disabled people who use rail. The outline of the guide “Inclusive Mobility; A Guide to Best Practice on Access to Pedestrian and Transport Infrastructure” states,
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SEND Support for children to be set out in UK law
SEND support for disabled children to be set out in UK law. SEND is a system of support designed by the UK government to provide disabled children special educational environments, equipment, programs, and healthcare suited to their specific needs, while simultaneously lessening the burden on the parents of disabled children
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Direct Access launches YouTube channel
Direct Access is proud to announce that we have added a brand-new YouTube channel to our ever-growing list of social media platforms! Our Ops director Steve Dering comments on the launch “After becoming increasingly confident in our filmmaking prowess these past few months through our other platforms, it felt like
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Direct Access delivering access in Trafford Town Centres
Direct Access is delivering public realm programmes for Trafford Council, identifying ways of improving access in Altrincham, Sale, Stretford, and Urmston centres.
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Our guide to adaptive game controllers
The Direct Access guide to adaptive game controllers This week, Direct Access handed in our accessibility audit of the National Video Game Museum in Sheffield. Although we are extremely passionate when any organisation expresses the desire to become accessible, our audit at NVM felt special, because beyond educating people about
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How can we make hospitals more accessible for disabled people?
How can we make hospitals more accessible? For many of us, visiting hospitals can be a nerve-wracking experience even on the best of occasions. Although we tend to try and avoid hospital visits generally, there remains a considerable chance that most people will need to visit a hospital at least
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Glasgow report highlights disability discrimination
Glasgow report highlights disability discrimination New research involving the charity Glasgow Disability Alliance (GDA), has found disabled people are continuing to face barriers accessing public buildings and services and are “hugely under-represented” in employment. This is in direct infringement of equality laws. In a clear example of discrimination, one participant
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Do I Need a DDA Access Audit?
Do I need a DDA Access Audit? An Access Audit (also known as a DDA audit, Disability Discrimination Act Audit, or Disabled Access Audit) is an assessment of a building or facility, an environment, or a service compared to best practice standards to benchmark its accessibility to disabled people. The
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Direct Access to audit Science Museum Group’s Medicine Gallery
Direct Access to consult on the Science Museum Medicine Gallery Direct Access will shortly begin an exciting new project with the Science Museum Group, as we are currently recruiting disabled people to be involved in an accessibility evaluation of the Medicine Gallery at Science Museum London. This builds on our
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Assistive Technology venture announced by Policy Connect
Assistive Technology Venture Announced by Policy Connect A new joint venture between a thinktank, a university, and a charity could help ensure that future public policies on assistive technology are able to transform the lives of disabled and older people. The Assistive and Accessible Technology (ATech) Policy Lab is a
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Locomotion Museum opens consultation on new building
Locomotion Museum opens Consultation on new building Last year, Direct Access worked with the National Railway Museum (now called ‘Locomotion’), making a series of accessibility recommendations that are part of the established infrastructure of the site. We are thrilled to announce that these recommendations will now feed into their new
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Most British websites fail to meet best practice accessibility standards
Most British websites fail to meet best practice standards of accessibility The UK Government recently published a report detailing the findings of a study that explored website accessibility standards on several UK sites managed mostly by large public sector organisations in the health and public service sector as well as
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Hearing Loops for public facilities
Hearing Loops for public facilities Imagine not being able to hear the speaker across the roar of a crowd, the bank cashier, or a bus driver over the noise of an engine. For many of the one in six of the UK population with some form of hearing loss, this
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Government publish new tactile paving guidance
Government publish new tactile paving guidance Last month, the UK Government’s Department for Transport published new Tactile Paving guidance to boost mobility independence for people with vision impairments. The use of tactile paving surfaces is important because these surfaces convey vital information to vision impaired and other people about their
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