As part of our Access to Information Campaign, we took our interactive stand based on Rodin's sculpture 'The Thinker', to the annual Liberal Democrat, Labour and Conservative Party Conferences in September and October 2007. .
The stand asked a series of multiple-choice questions on health, legal matters, local government, customer services, education and television.
"The Thinker" won 'Best Stand Organiser's Choice' award at the Labour Party Conference in Bournemouth. It conveyed our access to information messages and provided the basis for effective engagement with MPs, Peers and Councillors. The clip we showed of Coronation Street with and without audio description proved very popular, helping us raise awareness of audio description and digital TV.
Key messages to MPs
We asked MPs, Peers, MEPs, Councillors, Exhibitors and Delegates to 'Think' about the information that they provide.
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Is their information accessible?
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Are they meeting their obligations under the Disability Discrimination Act and Disability Equality Duty?
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Are they missing out on over 2 million potential customers?
On average there are around 3,000 people with sight loss in each parliamentary constituency. Over the whole of the UK, 2 million people have uncorrectable sight loss. This means they are likely to have problems reading newsprint or accessing letters in small print. Amongst those 2 million people, around 400,000 are registered as blind or partially sighted and will need accessible formats, such as large print audio or braille to enable them to access information independently.
As well as encouraging local authorities, health authorities and businesses to consider the needs of blind and partially sighted people, we specifically asked MPs and Peers to support our campaign. We asked for improvements to the provision of text books and education materials in alternative formats and were looking to increase the targets for provision of audio description.