What makes a Tuesday Purple?

I am an optimist. And as those that know me well may tell you, I generally – perhaps naively – expect people to do the right thing, or at least have the right intentions. It hasn’t always served me well.

I do believe I share those good intentions but undoubtedly on occasion, as one of those well-meaning, yet fundamentally flawed humans, I put my proverbial ‘foot in it’ and offend someone.

Hence why, when I encounter a situation which could so easily result in inadvertently doing the ‘wrong’ thing – or far worse, doing nothing at all for fear of doing the ’wrong’ thing – I feel compelled to educate myself further.

I am talking about disability.

Earlier this year I was honoured to be invited to join the Business Leaders Group for Disability Confident, the government scheme designed to encourage employers to attract, recruit and retain disabled people.

Disability has had a profound impact on our family recently and raising awareness of what we need to do better as a society, and as business leaders, has become particularly important to me personally.

Over the past months, in truth, I have been humbled at my own lack of knowledge and understanding in this domain. I hear the term ‘accessibility’, for example, and automatically think of wheelchair access.

In fact, only 5% of disabled people in the UK are wheelchair users. Often the most challenging disabilities go unseen. Today, 19% of the UK population has a recognised disability – and of those, a staggering 80% have an ‘unseen’ disability.

I recently had the pleasure of meeting with Mike Adams OBE, CEO of Purple and the vision behind ‘Purple Tuesday’ – an international call to action focused on improving the customer experience for disabled people.

I was alarmed but unsurprised to learn, given my earlier discoveries, that hospitality and retail are two of the sectors which offer the least positive and accessible experiences for disabled customers.

To my initial point, I believe this is largely down to a lack of understanding rather than any lack of willingness or good intent.

As Mike began to outline the concept of Purple Tuesday, I was struck by its simplicity and refreshingly bold approach.

Simply put, Purple Tuesday seeks to encourage businesses to embrace the potential of the ‘Purple Pound’ by making the customer journey more accessible for everyone, but especially for people with disabilities and their families.

I sense that many industry leaders may find the idea of what could cynically be perceived as capitalising upon or even exploiting the spending power of disabled people and their families, somewhat distasteful.

A valid concern in some respects considering the spending power of households with disabled members equates to almost £250billion and is rising at the rate of 14% per annum.

Yet, surely denying disabled people access to the increasingly vast and life-enhancing range of consumer experiences available, through lack of foresight, planning or investment is far more reprehensible.

It brings to mind an Albert Einstein quote my daughter recently referenced as part of a sustainability assignment: “The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything”.

Mike and his team have taken the brave step of highlighting the fact that meeting the needs of disabled customers isn’t just the right thing to do, it makes sound commercial sense for businesses of all sizes and from all sectors. Not only that, but it reinforces the need to have workforces that reflect the customer base, thereby offering greater career opportunities for people with disabilities.

Critically, Purple Tuesday could help make the wonderful experiences our hospitality industry has to offer, available to all. And for the sector itself, disabled people could provide much needed additional revenue streams.

Purple Tuesday is free to participate in. All it requires is a minimum of one clear sustainable commitment or activity that improves the customer experience for disabled people.

Surely, we can all commit to that. Let’s get behind this brilliant initiative and show what our incredible sector has to offer.

Purple Tuesday takes place on 12 November 2019. To find out more go to purpletuesday.org.uk.