On 4 September, the Accessible Britain Challenge was launched by the Minister of State for Disabled People, Mark Harper MP along with Paralympic Gold Medallist Naomi Riches MBE. You can watch the launch here. The online support tool also went live on Gov.UK and can be viewed here.
The Accessible Britain Challenge is intended to encourage communities to become more inclusive and accessible by engaging and working with disabled people to remove barriers that may prevent them from being full and active contributors in their community. There are 12.2 million disabled people in the UK, who make a positive contribution to employment and local economies. Although there has been significant progress in some communities to make them inclusive and accessible, there is evidence to show that progress is patchy.
The aims of the Accessible Britain Challenge are to:
• motivate local communities to do more to be inclusive and accessible for disabled people
• contribute towards building and maintaining strong and sustainable economic growth by harnessing the potential of disabled people, supporting them to be active members of their communities
• increase awareness and understanding of:
i) how a community can be inclusive and accessible for disabled people -the potential benefits for local businesses and organisations of engaging with disabled people either as employers or customers
ii) the barriers disabled people face in their every day lives that prevent them from being able full and active participants in their community
iii) bring about a change in attitudes and behaviours towards disabled people by local businesses, employers, service providers and voluntary and community organisations.
iv) encourage collaboration and co-production between disabled people and local organisations including local businesses, employers and service providers.
Supporting Information
To support the challenge and share good practice, the Office for Disability Issues (ODI) has produced:
Accessible Britain Challenge – aims and objectives
Get Involved
Email fulfilling.potential@dwp.gsi.gov.uk if you’d like to contribute your own material, or share it on Twitter using using the hashtag #accessiblebritain
Find out more
The Accessible Britain Challenge fulfilling.potential@dwp.gsi.gov.uk
The Accessible Britain Challenge Ground Floor Caxton House 6-12 Tothill Street London SW1H 9NA
Article originally appeared on the Gov UK website.