Late summer and early autumn is a time of year when lots of people are looking to relocate. Recent graduates tend to start new jobs in late August or early September and a new generation of students begin moving to their universities at around the same time. Relocating is always a stressful and onerous undertaking, but it can be even more so when you have a disability. That’s why we’ve put together this short checklist of things to keep in mind if you’re soon to move somewhere new.
The City’s Buildings
Different towns and cities are made up of different sorts of buildings. Some cities have lots of new builds and modern properties, whilst the buildings in others can be generally older across the board. This is something to keep in mind as newer build properties will have been constructed with modern accessibility considerations in mind, whereas older properties will not.
As well as the general balance of age of a city’s properties it’s also important to look at the different types of buildings which are most in evidence. If a ground floor property best suits your accessibility requirements, a city with lots of high rises and little else may not be your best choice.
Size of Disabled Community
By doing some quick research via websites such as that of the Office of National Statistics (ONS), it’s quite easy to find out the percentage of people with disabilities who live in different cities and regions.
This can be handy information to have as cities with a larger existing disabled community are also likely to have better facilities and to be generally more accessible across the board. What’s more, you might also be able to find more groups and organisations made up of people in similar circumstances to your own in such cities for you to join.
Accessible Parking
If you’re going to be looking to get around your new home city by car, it’s useful to know how well served the location is by accessible parking schemes. There are a number of easy to find websites at which you can, for instance, locate the different blue badge parking bays present in any given city.
It’s worth doing a little more research, too, to see what specific rules your prospective new city or council area applies to the blue badge scheme. The rules do differ a little from one location to another across the UK.