About Communication Access UK
Communication Access UK
Communication Access UK
Communication Access UK is an initiative developed in partnership between charities and organisations that share a vision to improve the lives of people with communication difficulties. Led by the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists, the partnership includes:
- Communication Matters (the UK chapter of the International Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication) that inspired this work for the UK;
- The Stroke Association;
- Headway – the brain injury association;
- The Motor Neurone Disease Association;
- The National Network of Parent Carer Forums;
- The Business Disability Forum;
- Disability Rights UK; and
- The Makaton Charity.
We’ve developed a completely free training package with standards and resources to help you, or your businesses / organisation to better support people with communication difficulties.
Once you’ve undertaken the training, we hope that you and your staff will have a better understanding of communication difficulties and use the principles from the training to improve your communication, and in doing so improve the lives of the millions of people across the country who experience communications difficulties every day.
What are communication difficulties?
What are communication difficulties?
Millions of people across the United Kingdom have communication difficulties, including both adults and children.
These include people with a range of conditions including cerebral palsy, learning disabilities, downs syndrome, autism, hearing impairment, stroke, brain injury, head and neck cancers, Parkinson’s disease, motor neurone disease, dementia and many more.
Communication is not simply about the ability to speak but also the ability to hear and understand what is said to us; some people may find it hard to ask a question, name an object or ask for help, while others may have speech difficulties that make them difficult to understand. Others may have problems processing information and difficulties with reading and writing. Some may use communication devices and require time to create their message.
Communication difficulties leave millions without a voice, denying them equality of access and opportunity.
Become a 'Communication Accessible' organisation
Become a 'Communication Accessible' organisation
The Communication Access Symbol is underpinned by standards which have been developed into detailed guidance and an easily accessible eLearning package.
Once these have been adopted and implemented, your business will be accredited and promoted as ‘Communication Accessible’ and placed on a national register.
Through the training, your staff will gain the skills and confidence to engage with people with communication difficulties much more effectively.
By displaying the symbol, people with communication difficulties will recognise that your business has made the appropriate adjustments to support their needs and engage your services with greater confidence.
A better communication experience for all will always translate into a better customer service experience.
Once launched, the Communication Access Symbol and standards will:
- create greater accessibility to goods and services for people with communication difficulties;
- help reduce social isolation and improve the quality of life for people who have communication difficulties;
- increase public awareness and understanding of communication difficulties;
- contribute to the development of staff and enable them to deliver high-quality customer service to all; and
- support businesses and organisation meet their obligations under the Equality Act 2010.
