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Catch21 Productions.
Go ON Gold. Online access for disabled people.
Pass IT on.
Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson DBE,
former Paralympic athlete and 11-time gold medal winner,
talks to Go ON Gold
When I was an athlete I remember a point
where I had to communicate with my coaches by
fax machine. My coach was living in Australia,
and that was fine until we were both travelling,
and you’re both trying to find a fax machine in
South Africa and Los Angeles
and you look back now and you think how unbelievable
it is that you can send an email or a text
and it’s there or you can Skype somebody or you can
get in touch with them in all sorts of
just different, immediate ways.
The ability to shop online,
to not have to go to a supermarket,
which as a wheelchair user, is a bit of a pain in the neck.
To be able to do things, which just save you time and effort
I think makes a huge difference, and I know it’s a really
small thing but just being able to go online and find out
somewhere that I want to go to is accessible,
makes a huge difference because then
if it’s not, it doesn’t actually ever stop me going there,
but it just means that I plan how I’m going to get there,
what I’m going to do, what I’m going to drink,
whether I’m going to go to the ‘loo’ or not when I’m there,
all sorts of things you probably don’t want to talk about
with people outside your family but I think it just
gives you the chance and the ability to plan things better.
Certainly in the last few years there’s a lot more discussion
about websites being accessible
and making sure they are accessible to
visually impaired people or people with learning disabilities
and I think we can still do an awful lot more to
make sure that when we talk about accessibility,
it’s open to lots of people with different needs,
but also I think some of it’s about the cost
and it’s trying to help people understand that,
I think it’s a useful way of spending money.
But also, I think it’s quite important that companies
do everything they can to keep costs down
and in terms of equipment for disabled people,
it tends to costs more, chairs, cushions,
needing very specialist adaptations for your computer,
that costs money and it would be great if there were
some way of those who have the need that they
can access that equipment, that technology
in a cheaper way for them individually
because once they have access to the internet
and all the things it can provide,
it opens up this massive world to them.
The campaign is supported by NominetTrust
Making change happen
Go ON Gold is a campaign to help disabled people
get online and access digital technologies
that are essential to modern life.
Whether you are an individual or an organisation
we can help you, and we need your help.
To find out more about how to get online,
help others get online
or ensure your own digital services are acessible
please visit our website at www.go-on-gold.co.uk
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