A new County Development Board Initiative Access for All Awards Scheme 2010 was officially launched by Councillor John Cummins, Chairperson of the County Development Board in Cuisle, Donamon, on Wednesday, 20th October 2010.
Cllr Cummins welcomed guests to the official launch and informed them that The Access for All Awards Scheme is aimed at promoting access for people with disabilities throughout the private sector. The campaign will ask the general public if they know of a business or service provider in the county which has done something to make their premises, services or products more accessible to all. If the answer to the above question is yes, they will be inviting to nominate that business for an Access for All Award.
Cllr Cummins commented that "this is an ideal opportunity to acknowledge and showcase the ongoing efforts being made by businesses throughout the private sector to cater for people with all types of disability". He stressed that "rather than looking for excellence, the scheme aims to reward endeavour and to acknowledge the businesses who have made an effort to make a difference to the way people with disabilities avail of their services. It also gives businesses an opportunity to showcase the work they put into making their services more accessible."
Cllr Cummins summarised the purposes of the Access for All Award Scheme as:
- The highlighting of access issues
- The rewarding of businesses who make an effort to make their premises or service more accessible
- The encouragement of other businesses to consider making their services or premises more accessible
Nominations will only be accepted for private businesses. Nominations in relation to publicly funded businesses, or those established under the auspices of bodies that are publicly funded, will not be eligible for consideration. The closing date for receipt of nominations will be the 12th November and the awards ceremony will take place on the 7th December, 2010.
The criteria for judging the Access for All Award Scheme, will be
- Access
- Business & Staff Awareness
- General Customer Experience
Nominations can be made by downloading nomination forms and details of judging criteria from www.roscommoncdb.ie or www.roscommoncoco.ie. Alternatively please ring the Community & Enterprise Department of Roscommon County Council on (090) 6637325.
The Access for All Award Scheme is being launched as an initiative to commemorate the year 2010 as the European Year for combating poverty and social exclusion, and the launch coincides with Social Inclusion Week 2010.
Access For All Award Scheme Poster/Nomination Form.pdf (size 562.6 KB)
Criteria For Access For All Award Scheme.pdf (size 20.9 KB)