Articles in Fair4All Visitors

Articles in Fair4All

A BuDS Access & Inclusion survey taking place at Chiltern Open Air Museum, Bucks. A group of disabled people are seen leaving the "Tin Church"

Fair4All Access & Inclusion Surveys

Ben Clark

A Fair4All Access & Inclusion Survey is a comprehensive, holistic, assessment of how accessible and inclusive a business, site or service is for all disabled people. It includes but goes beyond those aspects of accessibility normally covered in a BS or DDA/EA compliance access audit.

Fair4All Access & Inclusion surveys are a unique service offered by Buckinghamshire Disability Service (BuDS).

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A BuDS Access & Inclusion survey taking place at Chiltern Open Air Museum, Bucks. A group of disabled people are seen leaving the "Tin Church"

How Accessible and Inclusive is Chiltern Open Air Museum?

Ben Clark

On Sunday 25 September, a BuDDy tour of 10 disabled people made an escorted visit to the Chiltern Open Air Museum (COAM) to assess its disabled accessibility1 and inclusion.2 They also looked at Covid safety, particularly for disabled, older and clinically-vulnerable (CV) people.

The BuDDy tour captured the experiences and views of a wide and mixed group of disabled and CV people on a typical tourist visit to the site, and flagged up areas for future action. Although the BuDDy tour was escorted by COAM staff, it was completely independent of the Museum.

The Tour followed a preliminary escorted reconnaissance visit on 15 September.

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BuDDy Tour of Chiltern Open Air Museum Assesses Disabled Accessibility

Ben Clark

Ten disabled volunteers from disability charity Buckinghamshire Disability Service (BuDS) have spent a day at the Chiltern Open Air Museum near Chalfont St Giles, helping to improve accessibility for disabled people.

The trip, called a BuDDy Tour, is one of several taking place to Buckinghamshire tourist destinations and visitor attractions as part of the charity’s new Fair4All Visitor project. This project, backed by Buckinghamshire Business First and Visit Buckinghamshire, aims to help Buckinghamshire businesses become more successful by improving and publicising their disabled accessibility and inclusion. Learn more about the Tour here.

The BuDDy Tour is part of Visit Buckinghamshire: Boost programme of support being delivered in partnership by Visit Buckinghamshire, Buckinghamshire Business First and Buckinghamshire Council, and funded by the UK Government through the UK Community Renewal Fund.

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BuDS staff and volunteers wearing masks stand around the statue of Sir Ludwig Guttmann at Stoke Mandeville Stadium

BuDDy Tour to Assess National Paralympic Heritage Trust Phone App

Ben Clark

As part of the BuDS Fair4All Visitor project, a ‘BuDDy tour’ of six disabled people from BuDS visited the Paralympic Heritage Trust at Stoke Mandeville Stadium on 4 September 2022. The purpose of the visit was to assess and help develop a new phone app being developed by the Trust. The app guides visitors around the Stadium and its surroundings, giving information about the things to see and do.

All the tourists were volunteers or BuDS staff. We were not paid or commissioned by the Paralympic Heritage Trust, and our views and opinions are entirely independent.

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BuDDy Tours To Waddesdon Manor & Chiltern Open Air Museum

Ben Clark

Would you like a free trip to Waddesdon Manor or the Chiltern Open Air Museum to help us improve their disabled accessibility and inclusion? If you’re a disabled person, or the parent/carer of a disabled child, why not join our BuDDy Tours of these two famous attractions? A BuDDy Tour is a guided tour of a visitor attraction, accompanied by BuDS volunteers, where you’ll have the chance to tell us about how accessible and inclusive you feel the place is for you. All disabilities and impairments qualify, including ‘invisible’ ones.

We will be at Waddesdon Manor on Saturday 24 September and at Chiltern Open Air Museum on Sunday 25 September. Admission is free, and refreshments are also included. Trips will be Covid-safer and suitable for clinically vulnerable people.

Please let us know if you would like to attend one or both venues by emailing volunteering@buds.org.uk. But be quick!

Waddesdon Manor
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BuDS staff and volunteers wearing masks stand around the statue of Sir Ludwig Guttmann at Stoke Mandeville Stadium

BuDDy Tours

Ben Clark

A BuDDy Tour is an escorted tour by a mixed group of disabled people to a visitor attraction, to assess how accessible and inclusive the place is for disabled visitors. BuDS, through our Fair4All Visitor project, carries out several BuDDy Tours every year. The aim is to give constructive feedback to the visitor attraction, and to help them continually improve their disabled accessibility and inclusion.

So far in 2022, BuDS has arranged BuDDy Tours to the National Paralympic Heritage Centre at Stoke Mandeville Stadium, Waddesdon Manor, and the Chiltern Open Air Museum. Further BuDDy Tours are planned to other leading visitor attractions across Buckinghamshire.

BuDS welcomes disabled people to join us on these Tours. We like to make sure that all impairment groups are included. As well as a guided tour of the attraction, we usually include refreshments, and we can help with transport too. Carers can be included if necessary. If you are interested in joining a future tour, please contact volunteering@buds.org.uk, leave us a voicemail on 01494 211179, or message us through social media.

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BuDDy Tours of Waddesdon Manor & Chiltern Open Air Museum

Ben Clark

As a mark of respect for HM The Queen, BuDS has postponed our planned BuDDy Tours of Waddesdon Manor and the Chiltern Open Air Museum (COAM). The Tours will now take place on Saturday 24 September (Waddesdon Manor) and Sunday 25 September (COAM).

A BuDDy Tour is an escorted tour by a mixed group of disabled people to a visitor attraction, to assess how accessible and inclusive the place is for disabled visitors. If you’d like to be part of either or both Tours, please e-mail volunteering@buds.org.uk straight away. Admission is included, along with a meet and greet with the site managers. BuDS Representatives will accompany the tours and be on hand at all times.

The BuDDy Tours were organised to support the Visit Buckinghamshire Boost, Boost Accessibility project. The BuDDy Tours were delivered by BuDS volunteers, in partnership with Visit Buckinghamshire, Buckinghamshire Business First, and Buckinghamshire Council. The Visit Buckinghamshire Boost programme was funded by the UK Government through the UK Community Renewal Fund.