Everyday life can be a real challenge for the millions of people in the UK who have speech, language and communication needs. Good customer service from companies, who know how to communicate with them in an inclusive way, can make such a difference to their experiences. This is why, in November 2020, The Makaton Charity worked with the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists and other partners to launch free Communication Access training to help businesses and individuals get better at supporting people with communication needs.
Over 4,500 businesses and individuals have already registered for the training, but with your help, we’d like to encourage many more organisations to sign up. So, to mark the first anniversary of the training, please join us on Wednesday, 17 November 2021 to create greater awareness of people’s communication difficulties and how this fantastic business tool can benefit everyone.
We’ll be posting content along with our other partner organisations on social media throughout the day using the hashtag #CommunicationAccess, but we’d love to see your posts too. There are a number of ways you can get involved and here are some examples:
On social media (Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram) use the hashtag #CommunicationAccess and signpost people to www.communication-access.co.uk to:
- Reach out to your local businesses and encourage them to sign up;
- Share your stories/experiences of communication difficulty and provide good and bad examples of the kind of customer service you’ve received and how this has made you feel;
- Say why you are supporting the Communication Access training initiative and how it would make life easier for you if every business undertook the training;
- Tell us if you’ve had a good customer experience from a company that is already Communication Access Accredited (taken the training).
- Tell us if you have done the Communication Access training yourself and how it has helped you and others.
Communication Access training for organisations gives them information and awareness of how they can support all with a communication need. Organisations can then further their support to the Makaton community by attending Makaton training, to enable them to join the Makaton Friendly partnership progamme. The Makaton Friendly partnership programme is a key tool in making organisations and community spaces more accessible toMakaton Users. The scheme drives inclusivity to help create a fairer and more tolerant society for all. Find out how to become a Makaton Friendly partner.