Hi, my name is AilsaC1!

AilsaC1

I live in Durham and have noticed how inaccessible it is for many people and would love to get to know people on here, listen to people’s experiences and hopefully make Durham a more accessible place for everyone x

chiarieds

Hi @AilsaC1 - & welcome to the community. Durham is one of my favourite places, altho I haven't been since my daughter had her wedding renewal there a couple of years ago. The hotel did reserve a disabled parking place for me, but, as with many older places, I can imagine that the centre is not very accessible.

Anyway, it's good to 'meet' you, & I hope you enjoy this friendly & supportive group. Do have a look around, & join in with the discussions; the virtual 'Coffee lounge' is a good place to meet other members.

Tori_Scope

Hi @AilsaC1 Welcome to the community! It's great to have you here.

That's a very worthy cause. What about Durham do you find particularly inaccessible? I've never really been. 

Ross_Scope

Hello @AilsaC1 and welcome to the community  

That's a very good aim to have, well done  

AilsaC1

Hi everyone, thanks for your comments. I am not disabled but I have worked with many people and have friends who are and have a small insight into the barriers people face and inaccessibility of the city. I have also studied disability studies and policy. Something that  really stands out is that the scope charity shop in Durham is inaccessible for wheelchair users or those with mobility needs. I think this is really bad considering scope is a charity for inclusion, but the actual shop excludes those it is set up to support. Although I think this is to do with the council and the building, I believe something needs to change and would like people's opinions of how to do this, and connect with people who this directly impacts who would want to be involved. 

Inaccessibility of the shop:
- A step at the front door
- 3 stairs at the back of the shop to more clothes
- An upstairs floor with stairs and no lift
- A small movable metal ramp that is stored at the back of the shop, which the shop assistant has to bring out.
- Little space between the clothes rails, there would be little space to turn a wheelchair round. 

Tori_Scope

Thank you for flagging this up to us @AilsaC1! I've made a note of this so that we can pass your comment on to the relevant people this coming week. 

Scope have recently opened a new charity shop in Taunton that is fully accessible, and I think this is hopefully a positive step forward in improving the accessibility of our charity shops. 

janer1967

A very valid point you make there I am an advocate for scope but agree you would think a disability charity would at least have accessible shops . I also found they have no facility to collect donations from people who are unable to get to a shop to donate.

I get it that they probably use old shops for cheaper rent but come on scope get your act together and support the people your organisation is representing

AilsaC1

Yeah that's true. I think for something to change, everyone needs to come together. The people who are directly impacted (the most important), Scope, the council (as I assume it's their building but I'm not sure), and anyone else who wants to be involved. 

That's a good point about the collection. I didn't think about that. Thanks for pointing that out. Definitely something else to think about for making it more accessible!

Ross_Scope

Thanks for your feedback guys, I will be sure to pass on what you have said to the relevant team.

chiarieds

I might be out on a limb here, but I'd rather see a charity such as Scope have a shop, especially in a 'historic town or city' rather than not, even if it's unfortunately not accessible to potential disabled customers. The revenue will still help those with a disability, even if a shop is unable to currently accomodate disabled people, which in a perfect world it would.

Where am I coming from? Well from having had a secondhand bookshop in the centre of a 'historic market town.' We were visited many years ago by a councillor with an interest in disability. We did as much as we could, putting high visibility markers on the outside 5 steps, a small ramp down an step inside, & installed a push button bell on the outside wall of the shop (which was only ever used twice by customers needing assistance in over 12+ years, but often mis-used by thoughtless youngsters). The council wouldn't countenance an outside ramp as this would have taken over most of the pavement, & would not be in keeping with the town's historic character. So, the outlay to try & make our shop more accessible wasn't great, but didn't increase our profits. We just carried on doing what we'd always done, i.e. going outside if we were aware a customer couldn't get in, & taking books out for them to look at. Help was always offered to get a pushchair in, & well-behaved dogs (if they had well-behaved owners!) were always welcome. Our shop was also a Georgian building.

A charity shop like any other has to weigh up the cost of making their shop fully accessible against any increase in profit, sorry. So, would people rather have a local Scope shop, or only one if it was fully accessible?

Sadly the Scope shop in our market town has closed.

AilsaC1

Hi, thanks for your comment and coming at it from a different angle, I think it's so important to consider different points of view, which in this case is a business point of view. That's great that you tried to make the shop more accessible for people and I agree I think it is important to have a Scope shop in all towns and cities. 

Like I said before, I am not disabled and therefore can't fully understand/comment on other people's experiences, so hopefully others will comment their points of view on this issue. However, in my opinion having studied disability studies and worked with a variety of people who experience accessibility barriers, I think it is more important to provide accessibility to everyone, even if profits do not increase. There may not be any disabled people to want to shop at Scope in the area, however they must have the right and should have the opportunity to shop independently like abled bodied people. I totally understand the difficulty in placing a permanent ramp, however I feel that if things like this are an issue, we need to fight to change this and make it work and accessible by working with a variety of people. 

 It would be great to know other people's opinions too and understand people's experiences and what you think should happen. 

Thanks for the different point about the consideration from a business point of view @chiarieds x

Butler356

Welcome to Scope and for getting involved with a different approach. Its welcome and to be mindful that disability can sometimes come to anyone at any time in life, at the being, during the growing up period and later in life. Educating the general public is key and of course legislation helps. Being open and kind to everyone is also a good place to start.

Tori_Scope

Hi @AilsaC1!

I had a chat with a colleague from the retail division and I now have a contact for the area manager overseeing the Durham shop, who should be happy to have a chat about how Scope can make the shopping experience better for our disabled customers in Durham. Is that something you'd be interested in? 

AilsaC1

Hi @Tori_Scope, 

Thank you so much! Yes that sounds great, I would love to have  chat to them. As I have said before, I am not disabled myself, so it would be great if others would like to chat to them as well so it is accessible for people it is currently inaccessible for. So if anyone else would like to join, or comment on what makes shopping an accessible and enjoyable experience, please let me know. 

Thank you so much for contacting them 

Tori_Scope

Great @AilsaC1 I'll send you an email from [email protected] now. 

lisathomas50

Hi and welcome  I will catch up with everyone once I gone through the welcome list  I have had a good day eith scop on the phone I have a future to look forward to