Articles in Fair4All Events

Articles in Fair4All Events

About Fair4All Events

Ben Clark

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.

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Three people sitting at a long desk working on laptops and desktop computers. There are papers and glasses of water also on the table.

About Reach4Work

Ben Clark

Since 2010, BuDS has helped its volunteers towards work. Our Reach4Work project, created in 2018, codified and developed that help, creating a professional wrap-around service for our disabled volunteers who want to move into or closer to work.

BuDS is exceptionally successful at moving disabled jobseeker volunteers into or closer to work…

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A green background with white text of "Easy read" in the top left corner, and a white silhouette of a person reading on the right hand side. Copyright Devon Partnership NHS Trust

About EasyRead

Ben Clark

BuDS publishes some of our articles in EasyRead format. These articles are produced by our volunteers, and so our capacity is limited. Over time we will publish more EasyRead articles. Please be patient with us whilst we grow this project.

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A white woman wearing headphones with a microphone looking into the camera and speaking

About The Enquiries Project

Ben Clark

The BuDS Enquiries Team answers questions and queries from disabled people about a very wide range of issues. We try to fill the gaps left by other support services and helplines, so we often support disabled people with complex and difficult issues.

Getting Help From The Enquiries Project

Any disabled person in England can contact the Enquiries project for help. Parents, carers, and supporters can also contact us on behalf of a disabled person. We don’t have strict rules about who we can help: we will always do our best to support you and will let you know immediately if, for any reason, we can’t.

The Enquiries project is staffed entirely by volunteers, many of them disabled people themselves. We are often very busy and there may be a delay in getting back to you. We are sorry about this, but we can only do so much. The Enquiries project is not a crisis or emergency service.

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An autistic school child in uniform looks at their teacher

About The BuDS SEND Transitions Service

Ben Clark

The BuDS SEND Transitions Service is a three-year project funded by The Rothschild Foundation. The purpose of the SEND Transitions Service is to improve the experience of disabled children and young people moving through key transitions within school education and from school education into work or further/higher education. It will do this by: 

  • Investigating and reporting on services supporting disabled children and young people.
  • Assessing to what extent the needs of disabled children and young people are met by existing services.  
  • Proposing new and improved services to eliminate gaps and address deficiencies, including new BuDS and Reach4Work services.

The SEND Transitions Service is made up of workstreams from a number of BuDS projects, principally Fair4All Education and Reach4Work.

To learn more about the Reach4Work workstream, which is looking at disabled young people’s transition from education to employment, click here.

A learning disabled child smiling into the camera and holding up her hands, which are brightly painted with several colours

About Fair4All Education

Ben Clark

The Fair4All Education project tackles the most important educational issues facing disabled children and young people, and their parents/carers, in Bucks.

The core of the Fair4All Education project is a ‘working community’ of professionals, parents, carers and disabled young people who are passionate about making a real difference. Working under the BuDS umbrella, the Fair4All Education team works together to define an agenda for action and plan how change will be made to happen.

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About IAG Covid-19

Ben Clark

The IAG team works tirelessly to produce easy to read, fact-checked and reliable articles about issues relevant to disabled people. During the Covid-19 pandemic, these have included weekly risk posts which break down the latest case, hospitalisation, death and vaccination statistics; analyses of Government policy, and scientific updates about the coronavirus. To read these posts, please see below or visit our Facebook page using the button below:

BuDS Facebook Page

If you would like to volunteer for the IAG team as a researcher or writer, please visit our volunteering page to find out more.

Volunteering

About The Fair4All Card

Ben Clark
What is the Fair4All card? 1. Helps disabled people prove what adjustments they are legally entitled to. 2. Secure photo card for disabled people. 3. Explains how other people can help. 4. Simple statements means it can be used anywhere. 5. Doesn't list any disabilities or conditions.

What is the Fair4All Card Scheme?

The Fair4All Card is a secure, evidence based card that can be used by any disabled person to communicate the reasonable adjustments they need.

We created the scheme in August 2020 and have grown from offering around 12 reasonable adjustments to now offering over 40.

Find out more about the scheme below.

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BuDS flags and gazebo at an event in the background with blurry view of event goers in the foreground

Volunteer at the Chiltern Open Air Museum’s Halloween Event

Janneke

Do you want to help support disabled people and get to attend an amazing event? BuDS is looking for event volunteers for the Chiltern Open Air Museum’s Halloween Event, on Friday 27th October 2023.

The Halloween Spectacular Event is back on Friday 27th October this year, it will be an evening filled with spooky fun for all ages in the unique and atmospheric setting of the Museum’s historic buildings and woods. BuDS volunteers will get free admission to the whole site, and plenty of free time to enjoy the event and museum.

BuDS is excited to support this event to be more inclusive and accessible for all disabled people. We will be supporting disabled visitors, staffing viewing areas, and providing an emergency quiet space. There will be a wide range of roles to suit everyone, even if you can only volunteer for an hour.

If you’d like to be part of the volunteer team for this amazing event, please fill in this expression of interest form, and we will be in touch! Disabled people are very welcome to volunteer, and we have a wide range of roles to suit everyone.

If you don’t want to fill in the form, you can email volunteering@buds.org.uk or leave us a voicemail on 01494 211179

A group of people in blue BuDS polo shirts standing in a field in front of a blue gazebo with a yellow banner reading "Buckinghamshire Disability Service". A historic building is visible in the background.
BuDS Volunteers at COAM Green Festival in July 2023

BuDS is not attending Chiltern Open Air Museum’s Christmas Event

Freya Clark

BuDS always strives to make events in Buckinghamshire accessible for disabled people. However, we have recently been hit with a wave of illness within our events team. After lots of careful consideration, our Trustees felt that attending this event would put too much strain on the health of our volunteers, and we are therefore very sadly announcing that we will not be attending this event.

If you have any questions or comments, please email info@buds.org.uk.

Volunteer at the COAM Christmas Weekend

Freya Clark

Please note volunteer applications have closed for this event.

Do you want to help support disabled people and get to attend an amazing event? BuDS is looking for event volunteers for the Chiltern Open Air Museum Christmas Weekend, on the 3rd and 4th December 2022.

The event will show how Christmas was celebrated in the past and give you the opportunity to see some of the Museum’s historic buildings traditionally decorated for Christmas. There will be an artisan Christmas market and the Museum’s shop will be full of handmade products.

We are excited to support this event to be more inclusive and accessible for all disabled people by providing an access information and support, and an emergency quiet space.

Volunteers will get free time to enjoy the event and will be able to enjoy the demonstrations, or just have some chill out time!

Strict Covid-safety protocols will be in place to keep everyone safe and every volunteer will be provided with a BuDS polo shirt and PPE face mask.

If you’d like to be part of the volunteer team for this amazing event, please fill in the expression of interest form, and we will be in touch! Disabled people are very welcome to volunteer, and we have a wide range of roles to suit everyone.

We are very welcoming, even if you can only commit to an hour during the weekend.