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URBAN Disabled Access Improvement project (ERDF) |
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| As well as providing support for minority ethnic groups, the Bristol URBAN Programme is also helping other groups that face challenges of a different kind.
This project aimed to improve access for people with physical and sensory impairments in 5 local training and community venues. The centres involved were:
However, what made the project different from many of its kind, throughout the country and Europe, has been in adopting a 'service user involvement' approach. Establishing exactly what improvements to make, where physical barriers existed and how best to overcome them, has been achieved by consulting with disabled people in the first place. "If decisions about how services are provided are in the hands of people who use them, there is pressure to create and maintain high standards" (Jenny Morris), which in turn helps people to prepare themselves for the job market. Greater and better access to these buildings and the opportunities and services within them, will have a profound effect on increasing mobility and reducing isolation and the unemployment rate in the area.Being self-run and having a cross-partnership focus will ensure ongoing success in the years to come through a taking of responsibility by the local communities. "Improving disabled access to community centres"
Copyright 2000 Bristol URBAN Programme |
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For more information contact Anne Boothe, Project Manager: