Promoting, Monitoring and Maintaining Accessiblity
It is coming to the end of yet another busy year which has seen lots of developments taking place in relation to access including: the LGMSB setting up new Access Officer Network and publishing new guidelines entitled ‘Good Practice Guidelines on Access of Streetscapes’; concerns raised by the by the Office of the Ombudsman about public bodies ignoring the Disability Act and the lack of promotion of Access Officers; and also the updating of the British Standards (BS:8300 2009).
To ensure you continuously improve the accessibility of your organisation in 2010, it is important that you review and monitor your progress in 2009. This can be carried out in a number of ways including consultation; review of access policy and implementation plan, disability proofing, impact assessments, surveys and a review of complaints.
If you haven’t already done so, now is a good time to start this process.
The following is a list of key questions to get you on your way:
- Have you developed an effective monitoring tool to allow for reporting? If so, have you prepared an annual report?
- Have you reviewed and updated your access policy recently?
- When was the last time you reviewed the actions in your Disability Act implementation plan? Have timeframes and recommendations been met? How have they been updated?
- Has the organisation reflected on organisational progress thus far?
- Have you achieved all your goals in relation to consultation and liaising with key stakeholders?
- Are your staff aware of the levels of monitoring required under the Disability Act 2005?
- How successful has the promotion of accessibility and Universal Design been in 2009?
