The Government of Gibraltar is pleased to announce that a further series of seminars and workshops on accessibility training were provided by the Ministry of Equality last week.

These seminars were delivered by Ian Streets from About Access UK and continue to form part of the Equality Means Business series of seminars. It is also a continuation to the training that has been provided for HM Government of Gibraltar staff which has been ongoing for the past three years.

A spokesman for the Government of Gibraltar said: "A full day of training on access awareness was available to Government officials on Wednesday 14th June, followed by a more technical two day Access Audit course attended by technical grades and project managers on Thursday 15th and Friday 16th June."

Minister for Equality Samantha Sacramento said: “The June accessibility training comes on the back of the training provided at the end of May in relation to front line staff training on understanding disabilities, delivered by Paul Hawkins’ from Attitude is Everything, to which the response we have received for this has been phenomenal and extremely encouraging.

"The accessibility training that was held last week has been provided continuously by the Ministry of Equality for the last three years as it is important that support is provided ahead of the forthcoming legislative changes on physical environments. This Government has been taking appropriate steps to ensure that best practice in accessibility are put into practice in all current and future projects and that technical grades and project managers in Gibraltar are fully conversant with the provisions of the new disability legislation and building regulations that we are about to introduce. One of the aims of the Disability Bill is to ensure that people, organisations and businesses are fully aware of the requirements of people with disabilities and that they are as inclusive as possible.

"The feedback we have received regarding previous accessibility training from About Access UK has also been extremely positive. People who have attended continue to approach me telling me how this training has made them see things from a different perspective.”

The Government will continue to promote awareness on issues affecting disabilities and continue to provide further training. Further training opportunities will be announced. For more information, or if you would like to join our information mailing list, please contact the Ministry of Equality on 200 70112 or email equality@gibraltar.gov.gi.

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