Diverse Customers have Diverse Needs

In the UK, there are around:

o 10 million disabled people
o 2 million people have a visual impairment
o 9 million people have a hearing impairment
o 50,000 to 70,000 people use British Sign Language
o 250,000 people have both a serious visual and hearing impairment
o 1–2 million people have a learning disability
o 47% of people aged 61 to 80 are deaf or hard of hearing (ranging from mil deafness to profound); this goes up to 93% after the age of 80
o 85% of people with sight problems are older people
o Estimates of people who have literacy difficulties vary but it could be as high as 20% of the population
o Nearly 91% of people in England are white (including white minorities such as Irish people and Europeans) [ 2001 census]
o 5% of people in England are of Asian origin, 2% Black and 1.5% mixed [ 2001 census]
o 300 out of 1,000 people will experience mental health problems every year.

In Southampton, there are around:

o 37,400 (17% of the population) people who self declare they are disabled and/or have a long-term illness
o 2,421 people in the city are either registered with a visual or sensory impairment – although many people do not register
o 11% of the population (about 24,200) people are from Black and minority ethnic communities
o It is believed over 100 languages are spoken in the city
o There are over 70 languages spoken by children in our schools
o 20% of the population are over 60 years of age (older people)
o 5000 people have learning disabilities

We want to provide excellent services to all our customers.

We know that our customers have a very wide range of interests and needs. Here are some of the actions the council has taken to improve our customer contact….

o We have invested over £1.5 million to improve access to our public buildings

o We have installed induction loop systems (for customers with a hearing impairment) in all our reception points

o We have trained our staff in Disability Equality skills

o We are training our staff in Customer Care and this includes ‘how to meet the diverse needs of all our customers’

o We set up the Accessible Communications Project to make our information easier to understand and more accessible to everyone.

o We have involved our customers with specific needs [what do we mean] in improving customer services in lots of ways.

o We are working with people who have learning disabilities to make our information and communication easier for them. We have involved them and other customers in ‘testing out’ our information and our customer services.

o We have up-dated and improved our interpreting and translations services

o We have improved how we use interpreting and translations for people whose first language is not English

o We can provide interpreting services in all of our services, if they are needed

o We have improved accessibility on our website - Southampton Online

o We have made our website easier to understand

o We have assessed the impact of every service in the council on our customers including those from ethnic minorities and disabled people and identified action to improve