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Kristina wearing sunglasses on a beautiful sunny day, sat in a wheelchair with Bike adaption in the middle of green fields with a young child sat on her lap.

Kristina Veasey

Our View

In this edition of Accentuate News we will focus on one specific project and how the Our View Project Person has influenced working practices. The focus for this newsletter is Kristina Veasey, the Our View Project Person for Destination Zones, and her impact on Tourism South East.

Kristina says “I have really enjoyed working on the Destination Zones project. In particular I enjoyed the conversations I had with the participants from the access groups who had contributed their views to the auditing process.  I think having a disabled person in the role of evaluator has helped enormously in making these engagements comfortable and flowing.”

Kristina undertook some research in her role of Project Person about how deaf and disabled people had been consulted with through the process of the access audits in Kent and Buckinghamshire.

 “In writing this report I was able to pool knowledge from my own work and personal experiences to compliment and support what the participants were telling me. I hope I have reflected their views well and in a style that has allowed the auditors and commissioners to really get to grips with what is involved in both the participatory process, and in the daily lives of people facing barriers in the tourism industry.”

 

“There were a lot of examples of good work that I was able to pick up on and highlight, and building on those will only make this project stronger as it progresses.”

Kristina believes that this is a learning process not just around improving access in the built environment, but also in terms of understanding what is required to make our working practices more inclusive. She explains that she entitled her report 'Involving Deaf and Disabled People' because she feels that is primarily the starting point for making any changes.

“I have participated in many consultations as well as facilitating them for other people.  The key to a successful outcome is always involving the consultation group at the very beginning; when ideas are first being formed. The more that councils and organisations can do this, the fewer problems there will be to iron out later on, and they can make more effective use of the money they are spending. User-involvement is essential for an end result that is reflective of need and want.”


Accentuate, TSE and Kristina are now exploring some ideas whether this report could be turned into a toolkit. 

Kristina says “I have been encouraged by the positive responses to my report and am excited by current discussions. The discussions with Accentuate and TSE demonstrate to me their commitment to really making sure changes come as a result of this project”.


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