Fair4All Visitors

Articles in Fair4All Visitors

Fair4All Visitors is a BuDS project to help visitor attractions to be more accessible and inclusive for disabled people.

An image of Black Park, Buckinghamshire — Black Park, Buckinghamshire

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

July 16, 2023June 1, 2025 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…

A young woman in a powered wheelchair sits in front of a grey wall with plants on top. She is smiling towards the camera, and is holding a mobile phone in her left hand

About BuDS BuDDies

April 24, 2023April 24, 2026 Ben Clark

Please note that the BuDDies scheme is currently on hold due to ongoing challenges facing charity funding across England. Find out more at the button below.

More Information

Are you feeling lonely or stressed at home? Need a friendly chat with someone who understands? The BuDS BuDDies are here to help!

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

April 12, 2023June 1, 2025 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.

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

About The Enquiries Project

February 27, 2023March 14, 2026 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.

An autistic school child in uniform looks at their teacher

About The BuDS SEND Transitions Service

October 26, 2022June 1, 2025 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

June 1, 2022February 2, 2026 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.

About Fair4All Events

May 5, 2022June 1, 2025 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.

A man holds another man by the throat, pushing him up against a wall. A woman films on her mobile phone.

About Fair4All Attitudes and Hate Crimes

October 13, 2021June 1, 2025 Ben Clark

Disabled people are sometimes subject to abuse, insults or physical violence because of their disability. The BuDS Fair4All Attitudes and Hate Crime project supports people affected by disability hate, helps them report it to the police if they wish, and campaigns to change attitudes and combat hostility toward disabled people.

About IAG Covid-19

October 13, 2021June 1, 2025 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

October 13, 2021June 1, 2025 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.

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

January 10, 2023September 21, 2025 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).

How Accessible and Inclusive is Chiltern Open Air Museum?

November 1, 2022November 1, 2022 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.

BuDDy Tour of Chiltern Open Air Museum Assesses Disabled Accessibility

November 1, 2022May 9, 2023 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.

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

September 29, 2022October 17, 2022 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.

BuDDy Tour of Waddesdon Manor – 24 September 2022

September 26, 2022May 9, 2023 Ben Clark

As part of the BuDS Fair4All Visitor project, a ‘BuDDy tour’ of twelve disabled people from BuDS visited Waddesdon Manor on 24 September 2022 to assess the venue’s disabled accessibility and inclusion. All the tourists were volunteers or BuDS staff. We were not paid or commissioned by Waddesdon Manor, and our views and opinions are entirely independent.

BuDDy Tours To Waddesdon Manor & Chiltern Open Air Museum

September 21, 2022October 17, 2022 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!

BuDDy Tours

September 14, 2022October 17, 2022 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.

BuDDy Tours of Waddesdon Manor & Chiltern Open Air Museum

September 14, 2022October 17, 2022 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.

Training Opportunities

May 31, 2022June 1, 2022 Ben Clark

Would you like to qualify as a professional Enquiries Advisor or as a Carbon Footprint Business Consultant? BuDS is happy to offer two great FREE opportunities for disabled people in Bucks to train for well-paid professional careers. Read on for more.