Disability
Over 1/3rd of our customers consider themselves to have some form of disability, and by knowing this we can put measures and services in place to actively improve how we cater for our disabled customers.
YCH has now got a dedicated Disability Resource Group, which is comprised of people with disabilities and carers, and geared toward ensuring that the services provided by YCH are accessible to all customers, alongside suggesting new and innovative ways that we can work with and involve them in the development of the organisation.
We now have a dedicated officer for handling any aids or adaptations customers may need doing to their property. These can range from simple works such as installing key safes of lever taps, to more specialist equipment such as through floor lifts or stair lifts. The benefit of having one point of contact to co-ordinate the work is that customers can be sure they are getting a dedicated service.
In addition following the tenant census disabled customers were targeted with a survey designed to identify if they were in receipt of the correct benefits. Where it was felt that there may be cause to think a customer was claiming the incorrect benefits the Money Management Officer was tasked to investigate. The first two cases investigated generated an additional combined income of £219 per week!
YCH has also introduced a handyman service (for all customers), although it is geared to be of most benefit to those unable to do work on the property not covered by YCH’s repairs policy. The service is competitively priced and offered in partnership with Age Concern.
In order to maximise the use of the website we have installed a tool called “Browsealoud”, which is designed to increase the sites accessibility for customers with visual impairments and dyslexia. This means that these customers can have the site read out loud to them, change the contrast to make it more suitable for their needs, and even hide parts of the page to help them focus on what they are reading!
Finally after discussion with disabled customers, who informed us that the maintaining of their gardens was problematic, YCH established a contract with the Community Payback team to provide a gardening service for customers unable to maintain it themselves and without and friends or relatives close by who can assist.
