Hidden Disabilites
Making every day life more accessible for everyone
We are working with a number of the GDA member charities and the States Disability Officer to identify how we can improve the shopping, eating out, travelling and overall Guernsey experience for islanders and visitors with hidden disabilities.
If this applies to you or someone you’re out or travelling with, we can offer you the sunflower lanyard to wear whilst you are out and about. The UK online Hidden Disabilities shop also offer badges, hats, wrist bands and much more
If you are wearing the lanyard, staff (and others including the police and constables) may recognise it and understand that you have a hidden disability and that you may need a little extra help or time. However, they will not know what your particular disability is, or what challenges and issues you may face. If you have specific requirements, please ask a member of staff for help (they will be wearing the Here to Help badge)
Its not just a Lanyard
Disabled islanders with hidden disabilities can choose from a wide range of accessories including the sunflower lanyard, from the Hidden Disabilities sunflower shop in the UK
If you would like to receive a Lanyard they are currently available at Guernsey Airport, Guernsey Information Centre (Tourism), Health Connections, Co-Op stores and GDA member charities.
Badges are currently available through the GDA member charities and States Disability Officer (DisabilityOfficer@gov.gg).
Pins and Hairclips (hand made so not many are currently available) are through the Co-Op.
How do I know which shops and members of staff have done accessibility training?
These companies have all taken the accessibility training
Our Hidden Disabilities training outlines the lanyard scheme and how it came about, draws on the hints and tips from GDA member charities (including Autism, Dementia, Mind), how simple changes can be made.
If you would like to find out more or ask about training please contact us on karen@matter.gg
The history of the lanyard
The Hidden Disabilities lanyards started as a scheme in Gatwick Airport to improve the airport experience for their vulnerable passengers who may not want to share details of their hidden disabilities. The idea was that if people were wearing the lanyard staff should recognise it and understand that people have a hidden disability and that they may need a little extra help or time.
You can also find out more about the scheme on the Gatwick website
More information
Rolling out the Hidden Disabilities, sunflower scheme wider than the airport and Co-Op, is a fairly new concept that came about during the Accessible Town project planning. We are open to ideas on how to improve the scheme wherever possible. As we are registered charities (Access for All and We All Matter Eh? (GDA)) we will require funding to roll it out further and would welcome discussions with businesses and funders. Please email us through hello@accessibletown.gg
Thank you to our Project supporters Lloyds Bank Foundation, ESS Employment Social Security and all our partners of the Accessible Town project who have enabled this to develop further and benefit so many of our 13,000 disabled islanders and 4,000+ carers. You can view all our partners on our website here.
