EARLIER this month disabled people in the UK were encouraged to visit public venues during Disabled Access Day but I wonder how much of our rich cultural heritage was inaccessible to them?

I work for an amazing charity called Revitalise.

We run the Netley Waterside House centre in Southampton, which provides respite holiday breaks for disabled people and carers.

The issue of accessibility is very close to our hearts since we regularly take our guests on excursions to tourist attractions. We’ve done a lot of research into this and found some disturbing things. For instance did your readers know that only a third of the UK’s top visitor attractions are fully accessible to wheelchair users and 8 out of 10 disabled people have experienced problems with the accessibility of major high street stores?

The upshot is 65 per cent of disabled people have decided against visiting a tourist attraction and 69 per cent have been put off shopping at their local high street.

We think that disabled people have a right to access all that society has to offer. Improving access can be as simple as installing a ramp, taking an awareness course or putting better information online.

At Revitalise we think that public venues should be talking to disabled people themselves about how to become more accessible.

Please join us in our call to make the UK more accessible. Visit revitalise.org.uk.

COLIN BROOK, Revitalise