Sesame Access are not only a disabled access lift manufacturer but we are also advocates for an accessible and inclusive society. We create products which change peoples lives and ensure they can access the buildings and places they WANT to go to and not just because it is accessible.

The news stories below demonstrate the struggles and obstacles the disability community face everyday. Raising awareness is essential to combat the issues and make a change.

Not being inclusively hospitable, an expensive choice few can afford

Business Disability Forum has published extensive new research finding disabled consumers in the UK experience limited choice and feelings of disempowerment when choosing a place to eat or drink. Almost half of respondents said that their choice of hospitality venue was limited by their disability or access needs.

The research report titled ‘Hospitality: What disabled consumers choose to buy and why’ looks at how people choose where to eat or drink and why.

One of a series of in-depth research reports, ‘Hospitality: What disabled consumers choose to buy and why’ examines buying experiences of the 1 in 5 people in the UK who have a disability. The series considers purchasing experiences across seven key sectors, including hospitality.

Hospitality: Key findings

Of the disabled consumers who had been involved in selecting or researching a hospitality venue in the last two years.

• 85 per cent said that disability or access needs influenced their choice of restaurant, café or pub.
• 75 per cent of respondents said that finding the information they needed was more challenging because of their disability or access needs.
• 45 per cent observed that choice of hospitality venues was limited because of their disability or access needs.
• 39 per cent said that they felt confident they had made the right choice of hospitality venue.

In general, the research found that disabled consumers chose to spend their money on places that had either provided them with good information and service before or had been positively reviewed by people like them.

• 48 per cent said they relied on positive reviews and recommendations.
• 32 per cent of those surveyed said ‘I read general reviews in the media, websites or comparison websites, such as TripAdvisor’.
• 21 per cent agreed that ‘When possible, I will filter or look for reviews and recommendations from people like me’.

One disabled respondent said: “The main difficulty is finding accessible information online. Sometimes menus are not available at all and at other times the menu is available as a picture that conveys no useful information to me as a blind person.”

Full article here: https://www.hospitalityandcate...

Disability Often Intersects with Domestic Violence. Here’s How to Better Help Survivors

I discovered I had a disability before I realized I was in an abusive relationship, but the two were interwoven in my life for many years.

My disability, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, made it difficult to cope with my daily life, let alone navigate the violent relationship I was in. My habits and compulsions were gradually consuming all my time and energy. But my relationship made it much more difficult to seek treatment and stay on life-changing medications.

Since leaving the relationship and becoming an advocate for others in similar situations, I’ve discovered that, although rarely talked about, disability and domestic violence often intersect. I was far from alone.

Full article here: https://www.calhealthreport.or...

Disability:IN’s Inclusion Works Program Surpasses 200,000 Talented Hires and 100 Leading Companies

ALEXANDRIA, Va.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Disability:IN, the leading global organization driving business disability inclusion, today announced that more than 200,000 people with disabilities have been hired at top companies through the efforts of Inclusion Works and its team of experts. The hires represent 590x growth since Inclusion Works began collecting the data in 2015 with a baseline of 339 hires.

“We were excited to participate in the recent Disability Virtual Career Fair and were impressed with the talent we saw” Tweet this

Even in a remarkably tight labor market, people with disabilities struggle to land jobs, partly because of biases in the hiring process. Inclusion Works, the consulting arm of Disability:IN, advances employment outcomes for this talent pool through these first-of-a-kind programs with 100 leading brands:

• Fortune 500 career showcase: Fortune 500s, among other companies, interviewed nearly 800 experienced job candidates with disabilities in May for roles in STEM, finance, business, sales, and customer service. The 29 participating companies included Citi, Dell, Expedia, Experian, Facebook Meta, Google, Lyft, Sony, Starbucks, T-Mobile, The Walt Disney Company and more.
• Corporate hiring goal-setting: Many Inclusion Works partners aim to become accountable for hiring a targeted number of people with disabilities to improve representation. Intel is aspiring to a 2030 goal of having 10% of its workforce composed of people with disabilities.
• Open-source training guides: Inclusion Works assisted Google in the development of an interactive training titled Disability Fundamentals for Managers to educate Google managers about disability awareness, etiquette, disclosures and accommodations. Google has adapted the course for any company in the world.
• Global conferences: Disability:IN’s 114-person Asia-Pacific Roundtable held its first disability inclusion conference in the region this year with nearly 1,300 registrants representing 220 companies across 37 countries. The flagship 2022 Disability:IN Conference will take place in Dallas in July.

“Reaching 200,000 collective hires is an incredible accomplishment for these companies and speaks to the power of the Inclusion Works program in facilitating inclusive workplaces, equity and belonging. The program connects the participating companies to each other to share best practices and to talent with disabilities,” said Leslie Wilson, Disability:IN’s EVP of Global Workplace Initiatives and the Inclusion Works Team Lead.

Full article here: https://goodmenproject.com/fea...

Government advisers on disabled travel ‘disappointed’ by lack of new modern day taxi legislation

The Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee (DPTAC) were left ‘disappointed’ by the lack of new taxi and private hire vehicle (PHV) legislation contained in the draft best practice guidance.

The Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee (DPTAC) shared their response to the draft best practice guidance for taxi and PHV licensing authorities in England.

DPTAC was established by the Transport Act 1985 and is the Government’s statutory advisor on issues relating to transport provision for disabled people.

While the DPTAC were ‘pleased’ with the coverage of disabled people’s concerns in the guidance, there was an area of ‘disappointment’ based on the lack of new legislation on taxi and private hire.

The DPTAC’s response to the consultation said: “We are disappointed that the government is still not prepared to legislate on taxi and PHV licensing. There have been dramatic changes in the operating environment for this service over the past 25 years, particularly with the development of smartphones, yet there has been no significant legislation in this area since the 1970s.

Full article here: https://www.taxi-point.co.uk/p...

Disclaimer- We do not own/write any of these article extracts, we are simply sharing to our audience in order to raise awareness and increase coverage. Credit is always given.