Welcome to the Good Access Guide Newsletter
A word from...
After what has seemed like a very long winter, at long last it really feels like Spring is quickly turning to Summer (at least it is here in rural Gloucestershire - where I can see the grass growing in front of my eyes!). Developing at an equally dramatic pace is our Good Access Guide network of websites. And, joyfully, after an enormous amount of effort by the whole team, we have now launched the exciting and innovative travel portal – Holiday Access Direct.
April has also seen us out and about. Two of the team spent a couple of days at the Mobility Roadshow in Edinburgh, catching up on who’s who and what’s new in this dynamic industry. We also got the call from BBC Scotland to record a contribution to a debate about how the travel and tourism industry is servicing (or otherwise) the needs of disabled leisure seekers. I was happy to oblige on that one!
Looking ahead we will shortly bring news of ‘The Valley’, a stunning property development on Spain’s Costa Blanca, which has been designed with ‘universal access’ as its guiding principle. It is something very special.
So, lets get on with this months other news…
Richard Thompson - Managing Director
UK Leisure Time
For millions of us, gardening comes well up the list of favourite ways to spend our time. And if evidence were needed that this were so, just look at what has happened to garden centres in recent years. They have as much ‘visitor attraction’ as a place to carry off the compost! We are likely to leave with a long tailed lizard or a Jacuzzi as a pot of geraniums. And when it comes to good access garden centres are way up there.
Sanders Garden World in Somerset is such a place and we are delighted to welcome the to the Guide for another year. So, if you have a favourite place to purchase your plants, let us know and we will invite them to join us!
Worldwide Travel
For almost a decade, the Good Access Guide team have been instrumental in the development of worldwide travel opportunities for people with specific needs. We are therefore extremely proud of our latest offering –
Holiday Access Direct. Building on our frontline experience in specialist tour operations, this new portal is designed very much to capitalise on the way the Internet has changed the ‘distribution’ of travel. For many, online booking is the
norm. But when access is an essential this isn’t so easy. We are working hard to change that and Holiday Access Direct will be at the forefront of this new travel ‘revolution’, so visit us now to see how accessible travel for independent people just got a whole lot easier!
Back from his latest travel venture downunder, Good Access Guide company director, John Cressey (he is the the VERY good looking one amongst us), is ready and willing to share his personal experiences of globetrotting with his wheelchair. John has journeyed far and wide and to places where many non-disabled travellers would find challenging – The jungles of South America, Cambodia, Africa, South East Asia to name but a few. He has also spent time living (and writing a movie script) in New York so knows the Big Apple well. If you have a question for John, why not post it on ‘Ask the Experts’?
Independent Living
Easter was perhaps not the best time to schedule an event of this kind, but the Mobility Roadshow in Edinburgh still managed to delight and surprise visitors with the latest offerings from the UK’s dynamic mobility trade. We were able to meet many exhibitors and have been delighted with their response to the Good Access Guide. Many will be showcasing their goods and services over the coming months but first on board is the astounding high performance motor tricycle from
Martin Conquest Ltd. How cool would one of those look on your front drive! Edinburgh based
TLC Health have also brought their range of mobility, pain, cardiac and comfort management systems on to the site.
Motoring
Whilst the Motability scheme is widely recognised as having changed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, many who are eligible to buy or lease through the scheme do not do so. And the numbers are significant. So much so that motor insurers, Lumley Auto Ltd. have created a number of insurance products and services specifically aimed at disabled road users who are not using Motability. Services include mechanical breakdown, tyre and MOT insurance, car finance and national roadside assistance. Under brand name
Aiding Mobility these services offer genuine options for those in need of bespoke motoring services.
DDA News
Service providers large and small are obliged to address their obligations under The Disability Discrimination Act 1995. This means making ‘reasonable adjustments’ to they way the do things and may include physical changes to their premises, altered practices and procedures, introduction of alternative information formats (large print,
accessible websites etc.) and almost certainly, disability awareness training. One corporate giant to have embraced all of these with a massive capital spend of £12.8 million is the
InterContinental Hotel Group (IHG). Their hotel chains, which include
Express by Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza, InterContinental and Holiday Inn have made enormous strides in catering for guests with special needs. Room adaptations, provision of auxiliary aids and a group wide training programme of some 15000 staff has put them at the forefront of accessible hospitality in the UK. As one of the few hotel operators offering
online booking of disabled access rooms, they are a beacon of excellence for the rest of the industry to aspire to!
The End...
That’s it for April. We look forward to bringing your more from the UK’s leading online guide to life, leisure and mobility in next months Good Access Guide Newsletter.
