A note from Purple Tuesday

As a disabled person the wider community of Naidex has always been synonymous with being on my side. Providing support and resources to meet disability related needs. And those of my family and others that provide care. Naidex and myself are broadly the same age. We have grown up together. Happy 50th Birthday.

My vision is a society where the next generation of disabled people simply assume their needs will be met. Whether in education. Work. Or leisure. It is why I created Purple Tuesday, an initiative to improve the disabled customer experience. The origins came from a shopping expedition six years ago when in 27 shops my non-disabled partner and I entered that day only 4 did I feel made welcome. In all the others I was simply ignored by front line staff or they only spoke to my partner. We worked out it wasn’t direct discrimination but a fear of doing or saying the wrong thing which may unintentionally offend. Swerving the conversation became the default position. And me. Like 14.6 million other disabled people in the UK. The unhappy customer. It is quite simple. If you sense you are not wanted. You won’t spend your money. The same applies to all of us. Purple Tuesday was the solution. It supports organisations to make commitments to improve accessibility. This good practice is shared with others to raise awareness, understanding, confidence and engagement of staff to deliver a great customer service.

Our celebratory Purple Tuesday event in November had an audience reach of 23 million with the involvement of over 6,000 businesses across five countries. There were 40,000 social media interactions on the day with the issue trending worldwide.

I was personally delighted Roar B2B chose to become one of our Sector Partners demonstrating a public commitment to go on the journey to support disability inclusion. I am equally delighted they work closely with Naidex. A brilliant collaboration that will provide a step change in the customer experience for disabled people and their families.

Disability matters. In a recent poll undertaken at a conference I attended, 92% of delegates said they had a relative or someone in their close network with a disability. I always say would you want your Aunt, Nephew, Grandad or Daughter to engage with the business you work for, and be disadvantaged because they happen to have a disability. Of course, the answer is no.

Society has come a long way since my childhood but the Naidex light burns as bright.

Glad to be working with you.