Statistics indicate that 16% of adults of working age and 45% of those of retirement age have some sort of disability. This is a large proportion of our population and as more of our members get older, we will continue to see an increased number with a disability, including impaired vision, hearing difficulties and mobility issues.
We are an equal opportunity organisation and seek to include as many members as possible in Branch activities. Please let us know if we can help you in any way, for example:
The Secretary issues reports and documents by email in Tahoma font (which has good readability) size 10. Other officers may also issue documents. If you need a large-print version please request one.
Attendance at our Branch meetings is quite large, which is encouraging but means there are only a few venues in the city available to us. We rotate around a small number of pubs, but some meeting rooms are not on the ground floor. If you have a mobility limitation please let us know and we will seek the co-operation of the venue to attain access for you.
We use separate rooms normally with a door so extraneous noise is minimised. If you let us know at a meeting that you have a hearing limitation the Chair will ask members to speak up.
The lighting can be varied within the room, so again let us know at a meeting if you need a seat near good lighting.
Our Friday Five pub crawls are designed to cover a compact area in the city, although obviously we walk between the chosen pubs. If you let us know in advance we will seek to provide help to get around, and into, them.
Our organised coach/minibus trips are in vehicles that will have a variable number of steps from the pavement. Again, we will seek to provide any assistance needed.
Our annual beer festival is held on the Knavesmire, a greenfield site. The site is relatively flat but can be muddy if there has been a lot of rain. We admit wheelchair helpers and blind guides (as well as guide dogs) free of charge.
We can arrange for wheelchair users & people with limited mobility to access the festival but would be grateful for some advance notice of arrival.
We are able to produce a large-print beer and/or cider list. Due to the large amount of paper required we would appreciate if you let us know in advance if you would like this so we can print the correct number. If you request one on arrival at the festival site we should be able to provide it but there might be a delay for printing.