Disabled people are often excluded from outdoor public events. This is not because they do not want to attend these events, but because the way the event is organized and staged creates barriers that make it difficult or impossible for them to attend. BuDS’ free-to-use Fair4All event project helps event organisers remove those barriers and attract more disabled people to their events, making them more successful. There are over 40,000 disabled people in Buckinghamshire and over 100,000 families with a disabled member, so being more accessible can significantly boost an event’s popularity and attendance.
Event organisers are often not aware that they are creating barriers which are reducing the appeal of their events. Event management training and qualifications do not usually cover disabled accessibility and inclusion. Disabled people are so used to events not being accessible that most do not even try to attend, which means event organisers do not see the difficulties that disabled people face.
How Does Fair4All Events Work?
BuDS is a leading national expert in event accessibility and inclusion, with over 10 years’ experience at a wide variety of events, both large and small. We include disabled people with all types of impairment, giving us unique insight and understanding. We help event organisers make their events more successful by improving access and inclusion for all disabled people, particularly those disabled people who are most likely to want to attend the event. Our help is free of charge.
The Fair4All Project helps in four ways:
- Pre-event Advice – we meet event organisers, including on-site, and help them plan their event to improve access and inclusion. By incorporating our free advice at the planning stage, it is usually possible to greatly improve access and inclusion without any extra cost. We can advise on site layout, parking, ticketing, entry control, event publicity and information, security and H&S issues, stage performances, audience and spectator areas, stalls and shops, seating, funfairs and sideshows, and all other aspects of events. Our aim is to help event organisers do as much as is practicable and reasonable to make their event open and attractive to everyone, including disabled people, and to maximise the event’s popularity and positive profile.
- Specialist Facilities – BuDS can provide specialist access and inclusion facilities which are often needed at events, but which are hard or impossible to source commercially. These include an access information point, bespoke wheelchair and disabled viewing platforms, a quiet or breakout space for autistic or learning-disabled adults and children, toys and games suitable for disabled children, a Q-Card system to help disabled people in long queues, etc. BuDS makes no charge for providing these services and facilities, although we may have to recover some direct costs by agreement with organisers. BuDS’ trained and skilled event team can attend your event to staff disabled facilities, ensure they are used by the right people and support your own event staff.
- Covid Inclusion – Around a fifth of the Bucks population, over 100,000 people, are avoiding events due to Covid risks and anxiety around Covid. Families and groups which include a clinically-vulnerable person tend to all avoid events to protect that person. BuDS is a nationally-recognised expert in Covid safety and precautions and we can support you to make your event more popular by advising on simple and usually no-cost changes which improve Covid-safety. We can also provide and staff facilities especially for clinically-vulnerable and Covid-Cautious people, such as a reserved viewing or eating area. We can also provide high quality reusable FFP2 PPE masks to attendees at a very low cost to further increase safety and reduce anxiety.
- Promotion & Marketing – BuDS has a very large membership and social media following and we love to promote accessible and inclusive events to encourage disabled people to attend. An endorsement from BuDS carries a lot of weight with tens of thousands of disabled and clinically vulnerable people. We also help event organisers to know how to put the right information on their own event websites and event material. For event organisers who consistently achieve high levels of inclusion and accessibility, we can even award the prestigious Fair4All Events Award. Being inclusive is a great brand value!
Interested?
Please get in touch for a no-obligation chat about how Fair4All Events could help you increase the popularity and positive branding of your events. Remember, our support is free.
Contact us by e-mailing fair4allevents@buds.org.uk or filling in the form below. One of our friendly team will be in touch with you soon.