Accessibility

We want our meetings to be as inclusive as possible and encourage anyone with additional support needs to get in touch with suggestions and ideas for how we can help.

We will already be offering the following opportunities prior to and at the 2018 Annual Meeting.

Registration

Any delegates that require a carer to be present are entitled to bring a helper free of charge. Please get in touch with Amy Everard.

Our Accessibility Network

Our Accessibility Network is a small, friendly, and welcoming group, who are there to support everyone with medical, physical and mental health conditions throughout their career.  This year we have put together some ideas for those who want advice on how to manage attendance at the conference, wish to buddy up, or simply want a friendly face they’ve already met.

You can join the network confidentially by dropping an email to Karen Devine.  Your name and email are stored securely off our main servers and you can remain anonymous to the remainder of the group if you wish to do so.

Pre Event Webinar

In November, we will be hosting a webinar on what to expect at the annual meeting, with advice from our Accessibility Network on preparing for the annual meeting and some simple strategies we have found effective for managing attendance at large conferences.

It’s also a chance to also chat with our events team,who know the venue well, and ask any access questions you might have.  It’s also an opportunity to feedback to the BES team other ways we can support you.

Buddies

This year we will have buddies available to those that would like a friendly face to chat to throughout the meeting. They all know the meeting well and can answer any questions you might have.  Please do get in touch with Karen Devine if you’d like a buddy or if you would like to be a buddy for the meeting.

Welcome Meeting

Welcome mixers can be overwhelming, with a lot of people and too much noise for those of us who find walking into large rooms and crowds more difficult.  To try and make this a little easier representatives of our Accessibility Network offer you a chance to meet before the mixer, we’ll introduce ourselves, and head to the welcome mixer together. Details of where and when will be available shortly.

Breakfast Panel

In this session, we’ll meet for breakfast in the Education Room on Tuesday morning at 08.00 and discuss specific challenges with disclosing disabilities to employers and supervisors, the legislative frameworks within the UK and signpost to support beyond the annual meeting. A short session will also be dedicated to agreeing next steps for the Accessibility Network.

Quiet Room

As always we will provide a quiet room at the conference venue for anyone who wishes to have some time out to think or reflect. We will also have a separate prayer room for those that want to pray throughout the event.

Green space

There is currently some construction work taking place in and around the ICC, but we will be pulling together a list of local, easily accessed green spaces. The venue is located a short walk from City Centre Gardens, a picturesque and well maintained gardens with benches, ideal for a break from the conference. The venue is also located on the Birmingham Canal, which has a number of footpaths to take a stroll if you need some fresh air.