We are a community group, run completely by volunteers; disabled, able and carers. We also have volunteers to help us to fulfil our growing work across Eastbourne, and an excellent working relationship with local disability charities, public bodies and campaigning groups.
We offer our services to both local people and the thousands of tourists who visit Eastbourne every year. Many of our local buildings are Victorian, and making the town fully accessible to all is our goal.
Our flagship Access Guide, created and published yearly by our group, is now being used by the local Council and tourist centre. We update the guide once a year, during the winter months, ready for the new season ahead! We also advise anyone who needs help to plan a trip, or just a day out in town, and give details of accessible toilets, disabled parking and many other important items which can make a visit a happy experience for a disabled person.
We also campaign for more accessiblity, better recognition of the needs of disabled users, and to encourage local businesses to provide more accessible holidays for all.
We run monthly zoom meetings, to hear from public bodies, transport companies, theatre and the arts and any sector of our town that may prove problematic for people with physical and health disabilities, special needs and visual and hearing impaired. Our meetings are informative, fun and both groups learn a great deal.
We also put on regular events in the Beacon Shopping Centre and, if a larger event. in local accessible venues. We invite providers, businesses, local charities and service users to meet together to help create accessiblity for all.
Though there are many wonderful charities locally who provide support, advice and information to disabled users, there was no central guide to show where and how to access facilities across the town. Our group brought all the information together and update it yearly to provide a one-stop-shop Guide, free of charge, to anyone who needs it.
We are also an independant group who is able to challenge any area of life in the town, and put forward the voice of disabled people across every sector. We are a group of devoted members, all of whom are either disabled or carers or both. Individually each member has their own special area of interest and expertise, and passionately works to bring change and awareness. As awareness grows and the demand of both users and public and private sector providers is growing enormously, we urgently need the help of more volunteers to help us grow to meet the demand. We can't do this alone, and hope you will feel that you can come and help us!
We provide an Acces Guide yearly, to provide a one-stop-shop information point for both disabled persons and their carers. We update and publish this ourselves, and are now moving into a digital format which will allow quicker, easier access to its vital information.
We run monthly meetings which is open to anyone; disabled people, their carers, public bodies, local charities and businesses. It gives an open forum to hear from and question representatives of all providers and provide them with the vital feedback to help them plan better in the future.
We also run regular events, either on zoom or in person. Most are held in the Beacon Centre or the venues of other local disability charities. Annually we run larger events where we bring together all the interested parties, providers and users, to talk, exchange views and experiences, and help build a more disabled-aware community in our beautiful town. We discuss wider issues such as disabled travel, public policies and planning applications and are always happy to speak at events to share our knowledge and insights.
We empower our members/volunteers to also follow their own area of expertise and interest and to provide new ways of communicating with our users. We run social media pages and our website to allow as many people as possible to access the information they need. We speak on radio, and provide articles for paper and magazines locally.
We encourage one another in our own journeys, share the work, and quite often enjoy a lot of fun!
Our group is 40 years old this year, and to celebrate this we have created a Disabilty Access Charter, to help raise awareness that accessiblity must be more than a dream or vision, it is something to be pursued and achieved. We believe we have made a contribution through the years, to this goal, and plan to continue to grow and do more in the next 40!
