Sutherland Access Panel - Established in 1990

The Sutherland Access Panel was set up to achieve greater public awareness of the needs of people with disabilities gaining access to public buildings.

The Panel comprise mainly of people with disabilities and their carers, Statutory and Voluntary organisations and is supported by both East Sutherland Community Care Forum and North & West Sutherland Community Care Forum. Registered as a Scottish Charity, Sutherland Access Panel has its own back account.

Access needs means different things to people with differing disabilities - the needs of someone who has a sight impairment is different to a wheelchair user and those needs differ to one who has Mental Health problems.

Meetings are held every 6-8 weeks throughout Sutherland to encourage participation from everyone in the county. Planning applications received by Highland Council for public use buildings, are looked over by Panel members and comments are then submitted to the Architect for their attention. The comments are for guidance only and its up to the Architect whether they act on our findings.

The final part of the Disability Discrimination Act (1995) comes into force in October 2004 stating Service Providers must make "reasonable adjustments" to remove physical barriers to buildings.

In November 2001 Camelot funding was secured by Sutherland Access Panel to carry out an Access Audit of Sutherland - with this information we then plan to produced an Access Guide in different formats i.e. book, tape, large print.

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