Vale Disability Access Group

We help to support the Vale Disability Access Group (VDAG), in partnership with Sovereign Vale. The group consists of Vale residents who either have a disability or care for a disabled relative or friend. They meet on a quarterly basis to find out more about council and housing association services and give feed back on our work in terms of disability equality. The group also looks to address wider access issues in the district.

During 2010/11 the group received presentations about the new waste service, and the accessibility of seating in council parks.  They also had the opportunity to provide feedback on EIAs, the budget and the polling station review.

We continued our community leadership role in helping the group to carry out an access review of shops in Bury Street Abingdon.  Group members carried out the mystery shop visits looking specifically at: ease of access to the shops, accessibility once inside and staff knowledge of services provided for people with mobility, hearing, visual or speech problems.  24 out of 31 shops assessed were considered ‘disability friendly’.  Those businesses that were not, received constructive feedback about how they could improve access.  This project recognised the good practice that already exists and has also helped raise awareness of the need to make businesses more accessible.

If you would like to find out more about VDAG or would like to become a member, please contact our Equalities Officer (contact details on the right hand side of this page).