Disabled Access In Kent

October 19, 2018

My name is Charlie Randell and I am a Business Executive at Smoking Chili Media. I’ve been a wheelchair user since I was 6 years old. If you’re a wheelchair user like I am, then you know all about having to research places before visiting to make sure they have disabled access.

Do you find that a lot of websites forget to include such information? Or if they do that it is sometimes painfully inaccurate? So, whilst they do have a disabled toilet, they fail to mention the 1,000 KG bank vault door you have to get through in order to access it!

Well, that’s exactly why I started this research project. I thought about the main things disabled people need when visiting a place or venue. Of chief concern are parking, wide doors (let’s face it our equipment isn’t small!), disabled toilets and finally the main thing, the dreaded stairs…They seem to be everywhere!

18th Birthday Almost Ruined
Let me tell you a story. It was my 18th birthday and as a present, my parents decided to take me to an exotic restaurant (I love to try new food). Before we went my parents Googled to check accessibility. From what we could see, and from what everyone told us, the restaurant had disabled access. However, when we arrived we discovered there was one massive step into the building and the toilets were down 2 flights of stairs! And to add insult to injury there was no disabled toilet as had been stated on the website.

Being a stubborn individual I told my parents not to worry and that we should just continue with our planned meal. They helped me into the restaurant and we sat down to dinner. As it was my 18th birthday, of course, I wanted to have a few drinks but instead, I had to limit the amount of fluid I drank, GRRR! If the information had been on the website, we would have been prepared and maybe gone somewhere with better access.

That is but one example of issues I’ve faced and I’m sure I’m not alone. I have experienced restaurants that have outstanding disabled access but don’t mention it on their website. Why not? After all, disabled people have money to spend and it makes businesses look good if they provide access for everyone.

So please use these guides to find everything from great pubs to excellent dentists, osteopaths and gyms with disabled access in Kent. I visited most of them, spoke to the rest by phone and grilled them on the details. I researched their Google and Facebook reviews and compiled the below info.

If there are any businesses that you think deserver to be added that I have missed out, please leave a comment below. I will look to update this yearly so it’s always up to date with great new additions.