Access & Inclusion

Access and Inclusion

Access and Inclusion is a Public Health Agency funded programme aiming to help make events, services, and venues accessible and inclusive for all. The programme strives to promote inclusion and accessibility by removing economic, physical, social, attitudinal, and communication barriers for people with disabilities.

Access and Inclusion facilitate a variety of ongoing events and initiatives in order to improve accessibility. Since 2016, over 11,000 members of our community have taken part in the scheme.

Take a look at some of our past, ongoing, and future plans:

• The ‘ican Fest’ took place in March 2019, which enabled participants to take part in a range of creative and leisure activities, including balloon modelling, pottery, jiving, and much more.
• A variety of events, such as the Black Moon Disco and the Island Disco, Circus Aurora Project, Burst, Sparkle, and Tap, to name a few.
• Mystery Shopper audits are regularly carried out by volunteers with disabilities in order to determine the accessibility of each of the Fermanagh & Omagh District Council venues and then rectify areas which require improvement.
• 250 members of staff have been trained including: Disability Awareness, Deaf Awareness, Autism Awareness, Dementia Awareness and Basic Sign Language.
• The Personal Assistance Support Scheme (PASS) continues to be supported by Council venues such as The Ardhowen, Strule Arts Centre, Enniskillen Castle and Marble Arch caves to help provide free entry tickets into venues for the carer of a person with a disability.
• Killadeas Day Care ‘Art for All’ Exhibition took place in the Enniskillen Castle to showcase the creativity of the Day Care in Fermanagh.
• ‘Words Across Water’ was a creative writing project with Willowbridge School, Enniskillen and Arvalee School & Resource Centre, Omagh. The project allowed pupils to create their own stories, which will be published in a book in 2020.
• Pictorial Menus are currently being designed to make our venues even more accessible for members of our community with reading, verbal, and learning difficulties.
• Our Volunteer Celebration event is coming up – with awards on the night for those in our community who help improve our district .
• ‘ican Fest’ – The festival for people with disabilities will run for a second year. A programme of fun and engaging workshops will take place in March 2020.
• Conference: International Day for Persons with Disabilities – join us for a celebration of ‘ability’ and ‘independence’ on 3^rd December 2020.