Purple Tuesday: Spending power a key feature

THE spending power of people with disabilities is a key feature of the Purple Tuesday campaign.

Some of the people behind Purple Tuesday. Left to right, Paul Watts of Savills, who is an expert on physical access, Karen Blanchford of the Guernsey Disability Alliance, Ben Wratten of Digital Greenhouse, which is hosting some of the events, and Alexandra Rowe from the Guernsey Chamber of Commerce, which is also hosting events. (Picture by Peter Frankland, 30149131)

It is known as the purple pound and accounts for £274m. potentially lost from the local economy due to barriers to accessibility.

‘The key thing is raising awareness – people often don’t understand how many people have disabilities,’ said Guernsey Disability Alliance partnership director Karen Blanchford.

‘The next part would be understanding diversity. People often think of disabilities as just wheelchair use, but it is about the barriers people face and helping people understand that it’s not all about introducing lifts or ramps, it could just be something like a hand rail. Some barriers are quite small but can have a big impact,’ she said.

There are 13,500 people in the island affected by disability and 4,000 unpaid carers.

‘Assisting with people with disabilities can be seen as charity, rather than understanding that being more inclusive has such a positive impact on our economy.’

The GDA has 40 member charities and a number of partners, including Submarine, which works to make websites and online services more accessible.

Digital accessibility features include bullet-pointing blocks of text, using videos with clear subtitles and captions and using descriptive hyperlinks.

The Princess Royal Centre for the Performing Arts recently put on a production that had captions shown at the back so that audience members with a hearing impairment could understand it more clearly.

‘When everyone is involved in the community, it is good for everyone’s mental health and brings people a sense of self-worth and respect. It also reduces the need for state intervention,’ she said.

The potential loss of the purple pound was easily underestimated, she said.

‘People with disabilities want to eat out, want to shop and go to the movies. They want to take part in community life, but there is such a lack of understanding about their spending power.

‘I find it really difficult that not everyone wants to have the opportunity to take part in island life. We all have a role to play.

‘It’s about not being scared to ask – I was terrified of upsetting someone when I first started, but you can just ask the person about what you can do to help.’