Lex Leisure puts inclusion at the heart of its venues
Lex Leisure partners with Activity Alliance to improve the service and experience for disabled customers across their facilities. The partnership will see 300 of the leisure operator’s employees complete Activity Alliance’s ‘Delivering an excellent Service for Disabled Customers’ eLearning course.
Activity Alliance’s ‘Delivering an excellent Service for Disabled Customers’ eLearning course is supported by London Marathon Charitable Trust, Swim England and Everything eLearning. The course increases the confidence and knowledge of sport and leisure staff, especially people working in customer facing roles to engage with and support disabled people.
Lex Leisure’s commitment to inclusion and workforce development comes at a vital time. The COVID-19 pandemic is having a disproportionate, negative impact on disabled people’s activity levels. Findings from Activity Alliance’s Annual Disability and Activity Survey shows twice as many disabled people felt that coronavirus greatly reduced their ability to do sport or physical activity compared to non-disabled people.
Lex Leisure, which has 30 leisure venues across England and Wales, has adopted the eLearning course as part of its mandatory training for all senior managers, duty managers and heads of departments across its sites. It will see more than 300 staff complete the training. Learners will cover six topics including: perceptions of disability, delivering inclusive customer service, legislation, effective communication techniques and practical advice for serving people with specific impairments.
Commenting on the roll-out of the e-Learning course, Kim Arrenberg, Chair of Lex Leisure, said:
“We’re incredibly proud of our commitment to supporting the communities in which we operate and we’ve already spent a lot of time with our sites to improve accessibility and inclusivity. This course will not only seek to build on that, but it will give staff the tools and information that they need to ensure that we are delivering a positive and engaging experience for all our visitors and that this is consistent across every Lex Leisure facility.”
Ray Ashley, Activity Alliance’s Strategic Lead – Partnerships, said:
“We all have a role to play in achieving fairness for disabled people in sport and activity. Our latest Annual Survey highlights the pandemic’s true impact on disabled people’s activity levels. Now more than ever, it is important to put accessibility and inclusion at the heart of reopening plans. This includes providing welcoming and positive experiences for everyone, including disabled people. Our 'Delivering an Excellent Service for Disabled Customers’ eLearning course is a great way to improve an organisation’s confidence and competence on inclusive customer service.”
As the sport sector and disabled people strive to recover from the pandemic, Activity Alliance can help your organisation to embed inclusive practice. Visit our how we help page for more information.
For advice and guidance on supporting disabled people to stay active during the pandemic, visit our COVID-19 page.
