Blind Hammer looks at some work behind the scenes.
This season has delivered a tough, emotional start for us all. Results against Liverpool and certainly Bournemouth did not go to plan. Still, on the pitch, how we finish the season is more important than how we start it. Previous early false dawns have resulted in disappointment whilst some of our most successful seasons have emerged from poor starts. Holding our collective nerve to allow the team to grow and gel is now crucial.
Off the pitch, West Ham are, I am glad to say, continuing their work on its Accessibility services. Supporter feedback to the Club is organised through the Disabled Supporters Advisory Board.
The West Ham Accessibility Team have organised some changes this season. Some selected highlights are:.
• An extra 10 headsets have been purchased to extend the availability of the match commentary service for Blind and partially sighted Supporters.
These cost about £500 each so this is an important investment. West Ham are now supporting approximately 50 Blind and Visually Impaired Supporters. This service is provided by a group called “the Insightful Irons” working under the umbrella of the Soccer Sight Foundation. The commentary is provided by James Datson. James tells me that the service at West Ham is amongst the bestin the Premiership.
• I am delighted that the club have responded positively to my suggestion of Season long Loan of Headsets for season ticket holders. I was issued a headset on whole season loan at the Bournemouth game. Now I will no longer have to worry about whether we can find a working headset every game but simply enter the ground like any other supporter with my personal Headset.
• Work on the accessibility of whufc.com for Blind and Visually Impaired Supporters is continuing. There is a need for improvement and West Ham have committed to this. A meeting was held to discuss a strategy for progress in June. The Club will meet with supporters, including myself, to better understand what improvements are needed. My own meeting with the Web Team will happen in the next couple of weeks.
• 2 new important resources have now come online.
The first is the Disabled Go West Ham page which scopes out all the access facilities to the Stadium on
Disabled Go West Ham
• Additionally West Ham has introduced an online Help Centre which includes information about Supporter Services, including Accessible Services. This is still in beta but you can see how things are developing on
West Ham Help centre
• The Accessibility Bus Service has continued to grow in popularity. This is a shuttle bus service which conveys qualifying disabled supporters to and from Stratford . This service is busier than ever and queues are now inevitable. However Chairs are available now for queuing disabled supporters to wait on. The club has asked that only qualifying disabled supporters and their carers use this service. If for example, a disabled supporter is attending with a family group, the family should arrange to meet later at the Stadium rather than take up places on the buses. The Club are issuing new Accessibility Passes this season which should help manage this and other services.
• Finally the club are progressing work to create a Video to highlight Accessible services for Disabled Supporters and encourage understanding of crowd issues which may adversely affect them. Players and Disabled Supporters will feature in this Video.
There are many other areas on which the Club are attempting to progress work, far too many to detail here in a column. I will try to cover
some of these in the weeks ahead. However, Fuller details are immediately available by consulting the West Ham Accessibility Statement and detail progress can be tracked by monitoring the minutes of the DSAB on the club website.
COYI
David Griffith