ASDA joins Buckinghamshire Disability Service accessibility scheme
Buckinghamshire Disability Service have launched an accessibility card
The Fair4All Card is a new photocard for disabled people in Buckinghamshire to make shopping easier and help shops understand how best to help their disabled customers.
Unlike other schemes, like the sunflower lanyard, the Fair4All Card will be issued only to people who have produced evidence that they meet the legal tests of disability.
The Fair4All Card also lists the ways that shops and supermarket staff can best help the card holder as a disabled shopper, especially during the Covid pandemic.
The charity Buckinghamshire Disability Service, who are behind the scheme, say that disabled people face barriers to being able to shop like everyone else, such as stores run or designed in ways that don’t suit disabled people and store staff not understanding how best to help disabled shoppers.
The Fair4All Card is designed to make life easier for genuine disabled people and store staff. If a person presents the Fair4All photocard in a shop, staff can be sure the holder is a genuine disabled person and one look at the back of the card will show how best to help the disabled shopper. No medical details are shown on the Card to protect people’s privacy.
Andrew Clark, Chair of Trustees at BuDS, said:
“The Fair4All Card is a simple, easy way for disabled people to get the support they need from shops and services and for shops and services to know how best to help.
"All the disabled person has to do is show the Card and all the shop or service has to do is look at the back of the Card to know how best to help. No fuss, no drama, just a happy customer and a happy store
“Because the Fair4All Card is a photocard issued only to disabled people who can show evidence to prove that they meet the legal test of disability, shops and services can be sure that anyone presenting the Card is genuinely in need of support”.
BuDS says that working with supermarkets, businesses and services to help them recognise the Card and understand how to help disabled customers will be a key part of the scheme.
Free training, support and accessibility advice is available for every business who joins the scheme, and free window stickers, posters and other material is also supplied.
Cary Hobbs, the Fair4All Card Coordinator, said:
“In this first phase, BuDS is working to get supermarkets in Aylesbury to become Fair4All Card Partners, which means they recognise the Card. So far, we have had a great positive response - Waitrose has signed up first and now ASDA has joined the scheme.
"Tesco and the Co-op are also interested, followed by a number of others. We’ll then be inviting supermarkets across Bucks to join up before extending the scheme to other types of shop and service”