Project description E07
Web page: http://www.merton.gov.uk/index.htm
The London Borough of Merton might have sponsored more global IQPs than any other organization; see the list at
http://www.wpi.edu/cgi-bin/Interactions/search.cgi?s=full&sponsor=Merton,%20London%20Borough%20of
. Its ward of Wimbledon is the site
of the famous tennis tournament, and the Borough itself is well known for
leading greater
Organisation name and address:
Merton Civic Centre
Morden,
SM4 5DX
Proposers’ name and contact information
Monica Wambu, +44 20 8545 3864, Monica.Wambu@merton.gov.uk
Ernest Obumselu, +44 20 8545 3896, Ernest.Obumselu@merton.gov.uk
Problem statement and objectives
The aim of the project is to provide an accessibility guide for principal venues and premises across the borough indicating the degree of disabled access in each place. This will mean an audit of some of the key building in terms of disability and other kinds of access. In terms of a final product, we would like to have a guide on the Council website which offers an assessment of key venues and places focused on the presence or absence of a few key attributes - lifts, ramps, wheel chair access, downstairs toilets, hand railings, hearing loops, etc., etc. This will probably not be weighty narrative information about each building but a short snappy guide using symbols and bullet points bits of info
There are some companies that do something similar already - see http://www.disabledgo.info/ for instance. Obviously, there is a clear limit to the premises and venues that can be done ...so it would be useful to concentrate on a manageable number of key venues and to design a guide that can make comparisons easy. So perhaps a scoring system might be feasible too.
The project will require close partnership work with local disabled persons groups and Merton’s IT department. By disability, we assume difficulties not just with movement and locomotion, but also visual, hearing and other impairments.