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commonsense than expense Arnold Fewell, managing director of AVF Marketing and AccessChamp, explains why accessible premises don’t need to cost the earth
Accessibility is more about I
speak to many hotel managers about making their premises accessible. One claim that always annoys me is that noth- ing can be done because a particular build- ing is Grade II-listed. This is a nonsense. If Lincoln Castle, built by the Conqueror in the 11th century, can accommodate wheelchair users on its ramparts when it re-opens next month, why can’t a hotel make changes? Or take the Accessible Catey winner from 2013, One Great George Street. Wheelchair users were not able to access the business’s front entrance because the stone steps, built in 1906, were immovable; its solution was to have the steps slide back into the building to reveal a wheelchair lift beneath. It wasn’t cheap, but it helped the London conference venue hugely boost its profit- ability as it won the bid to host the Inter- national Media Centre for both the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The win- ning factor for its bid was that wheelchair users could get through the front door. Hoteliers can get fixated on wheelchair users, but only 7% of all people with disa- bilities are wheelchair users. Hotel manag- ers forget there are a wide range of people that either may require a few adaptations or even none at all. What is often needed is good staff training and some changes to
From the web
Tomorrow’s treats The British sweet tooth is insatiable, devouring everything from flying saucers to chocolate caramel. Now some of the top figures in the industry are coming to a festival of innovation to face up to a cocoa crisis expected to send prices of the vital ingredient soaring by 30% by 2020. A world in which water is scarce and chocolate
expensive may sound like a sweet-lover’s nightmare, but for confectionery researchers such as Dr Morgaine Gaye, who is discussing the subject at FutureFest next weekend in London, it’s both a possibility that needs to be planned for and an opportunity to create practical yet indulgent new treats. “The confectionery of the future will be much more creative
and resourceful,” she says. “Food lust will be a thing of the past; we’re already seeing a social uprising against perfection.” The hope is that this turn away from perfection in
confectionery will allow sweet-makers to make use of less sugar-intensive methods that also use less water. Dr Gaye and her team have created five chocolates to
challenge the way we consume confectionery. “Taking into account poor water quality and water shortages across the world, each is filled with two different powders, which mix with your saliva to create a ganache filling,” she says. In her future, praline and truffles will be out and shops will stock chocolates made from ingredients such as tomato, dandelion and burdock, and sweeter vegetable varieties.
By Rachael Pells. To read the full story, go to www.
independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/news/ tomorrows-sweets-by-2020-confectioners-may-have- to-contend-with-expensive-cocoa-sugar-rejection-and-
water-shortages-10093680.html
“Hoteliers get fixated on wheelchair users, but only 7% of all people with disabilities are wheelchair users” Arnold Fewell
processes, such as booking. These might include showing a receptionist how to guide a blind person or creating a welcome letter for a deaf person. As I have said many times, accessibility is not rocket science – it’s a lot more about common sense. If you think there is nothing you can do, think again. As an absolute minimum you need an accessibility statement and to be able to provide information about facilities you can’t deliver – like a wheelchair-accessi- ble room. An accessibility statement needs to clearly show the barriers to entry or usage. So if your lifts are small or narrow, give the dimensions. A manual wheelchair user with a standard-width chair may well be able to access the lift or room, while an electric wheelchair user may not. And where it’s not possible to provide something like a wheelchair-accessible room or one with a hoist, you should estab- lish where you can refer the customer to. It may be another hotel in your group or marketing consortium, or even a nearby competitor – strike a referral agreement. Surely it is best to keep the business within your area and control. And by giving the guest some help and advice, it may encour- age them to visit you for lunch or afternoon tea and also recommend you to a friend.
22 | The Caterer | 20 March 2015
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