22 January 2010
A unique online access guide designed to empower Greenwich’s disabled residents to get out and do what they want to do has officially gone live.
Greenwich Council, which acquired Beacon Status in 2008-09 for its efforts in improving accessibility, has worked with DisabledGo and hundreds of shops, pubs, restaurants, theatres and other public venues to help create DisabledGo – Greenwich, which provides details about how accessible a specific venue is.
Visit the DisabledGo website to find out about access to venues in Greenwich.
Find out about visiting some of Greenwich's best historic buildings in our leisure section.
By logging on to DisabledGo, people with a disability and their families and friends can find out within a matter of seconds information including how suitable a pub is for a wheelchair user to visit or whether a particular hotel offers adapted rooms.
The guide also carries accessibility information on many of the historic buildings in and around the centre of Greenwich.
'This information will make a huge difference'
Councillor Angela Cornforth, Cabinet member for Health and Adults & Older People, said: “I'm delighted with the creation of this new guide which will help assist so many of Greenwich’s residents.
"This information will make a huge difference to not only those people who have hearing, vision or mobility related access concerns but also to the friends and family of those with disabilities. I sincerely hope that residents take full advantage of what the guide has to offer."
Improving public confidence
Dr Gregory Burke, the founder of DisabledGo, said: "The constant need to write or telephone to enquire about access really affects people’s confidence to get out and do what they want to do.
"Never knowing whether a building will be accessible or whether staff will have a helpful attitude makes you think twice before going out.
"DisabledGo ends that uncertainty by proving detailed access information and enabling people to judge for themselves whether to a shop, restaurant or theatre is accessible for their own requirements."
Dr Burke added: "Disabled people are no small minority. One in six of the British population is disabled and disabled people have an annual spend of £80 billion.
"Those are numbers that any business should take seriously. I’m immensely grateful to Greenwich Council for the support they have given us, and I hope that this guide will open up all that Greenwich has to offer to everyone."
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