An Inclusive Society
I am the Corporate Responsibility Manager for intu, a UK‐based property company, where part of my role is making our shopping centres as welcoming as possible for disabled customers. How I got into this type of role:
I was always interested in social and political issues, something I think I was pretty vocal about during my time at Mayfield! With this, enthusiasm and my studies, I embarked on a career working in sustainability.
How the autism project started
I started to make our shopping centres autism-friendly in 2015. One centre had begun to work with a local autism charity to provide support for people in the local community with autism and I very quickly realised the opportunity to support our autistic customers.
Three million people in the UK are affected by autism, including the families of those with autism. Creating an autism friendly environment has given many families their first ever family day out, something that wouldn’t have been possible without being able to plan and manage their outing.
What it entails and the importance/impact
The importance of making public places friendly cannot be under estimated not just for autism but all disabilities – 75% of the 13 million disabled people in the UK have left a shop because of poor customer service.
The steps to becoming autism-friendly have been relatively simple, and rest on three pillars: training, information and awareness.
1. We have trained our staff to be autism aware and confident so they can give our customers the best service
2. We have produced autism‐friendly guides to our shopping centres, giving our customers the independence to plan their visit with intu
3. We are partnered with the National Autistic Society (NAS) to raise awareness with all of our other customers to create a more understanding society. Reaching more than 29m people, it increased public awareness of autism by 16%
Future plans
Having launched the next step of becoming autism- friendly, announcing the launch of autism-friendly Quiet Hours nationally on 2nd October, I am looking forward to helping more companies realise the opportunity of the so-called Purple Pound.
Reflecting on the ever-present Mayfield motto of ‘Actions not Words’ I implore everyone to remember our inclusive values and think about how you can help make a society more inclusive.
OC
Find out more:
https://www.intugroup.co.uk/en/insights/the‐autism‐; friendly‐shopping‐experience/
Or get in touch
Helen.drury@intu.co.uk
Helen Drury Class of 2003
The Old Cornelian SUMMER 2017 35
Role as sector champion
I am passionate about creating an inclusive society and I was delighted to be appointed as a retail sector champion for disabilities by the Minister for Disabilities, Penny Mordaunt, earlier this year. I am now engaging as many of my peers across the sector to help them realise the benefits and new business opportunities that have arisen from making my company inclusive.
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