Accessibility Audit Checklist For Jack Young Community Centre

About Jack Young Centre

Discuss About The Asian Journal Research In Social Sciences.

The Jack Young Centre provides leisure activities to the members and by conducting various activities at various venues accessed. The facility also provides other services in an inclusive manner for the other community members.  The community organization needs to have a broader vision to allow all participants to have equal rights.

The Jack Young Centre provides leisure services to the members through various activities. Situated at 1 Orange Ave, Salisbury SA 5108, Australia, the community centre is a specialised space for the seniors who want to spend their time leisurely and utilise it in an efficient manner.  The facility is open from 8:30 to 5 on weekdays and 8:30 am to 12: 30 pm on the weekends. The centre serves to seniors above the age of 50 and takes an affordable fees of 10$ monthly with separate weekly charges and food charge (Jack Young Seniors Centre., 2018).  The JYC is managed by the Salisbury council which often conducts programs for the members.

The manager of the centre suggested that seniors can also work there and get paid for the same. The centre is quite accessible from various transportation facilities including the bus and train routes (Access Audit Checklist., 2018).  Parking facilities are available for the members. Apart from seniors, members with disabilities are also allowed.

The club committee has advised me that there are very few people with disabilities that access the club.  Participants with disabilities are usually hearing impaired and very little interest has been received from community members with other types of disabilities.  Those who have participated have not remained in this community recreational option for long.  The committee are unaware of why this is the case. 

The given audit is being undertaken to promote access and equity for the community members. The council has availed facility flats and houses. The infrastructure is easy to access without any stairs. They also provide frozen meal services, gardening, cleaning and coffee bar.

The source for these questions was the Hawkesbury City council website. These questions have been given in order to determine the efficiency of the facility provided for the seniors (Flinders University., 2018). These questions help to assess the centre.

The given questions had been asked in order to determine the efficiency of the different facilities available at the Young Centre. The questions aim to provide information to the general population to help in promotion of an inclusive environment so that the community can gain access to its services easily.

Facilities and Services

The questions will also be able to outline the gap that exists and provide them services which they were promised (Bulmer, 2015).  It will also help an individual to assess the safety measures and identify the future of the facility. Furthermore, it will help in identifying whether the centre is offering what it aims to promise.

Take your questions and used them to assess the activity in the community. Were your question helpful in auditing the accessibility of the activity organisation? If any, what changes would you make to your checklist?

The questions present in the given questionnaire were quite adequate in identifying the various metrics for the judgement of the young centre (VU, 2016). However, after visiting the centre, I realise that there could exist certain changes in the checklist with respect to the following point:

• The quality of the food provided in the facility
• The satisfaction level of the existing members
• Determination of target audience.

While making the use of the audit questions, the following could be identified:

• The facility members need to be aged above 50.
• The members can be a support worker or an independent member
• There is no facility available for changing the nappies of the older crowd
• It was also identified that the emergency and evacuation signs are too small and people with a visual effect will never be able to identify it.
• There are no sliding doors in the main hall which can make it difficult for the people accessing a wheel chair or using any other physical disability to use the door independently or evacuate from the building easily.
• There are no stairs which can cause tripping of the members.

There exists a problem with the path in the sense that the path is big enough except for the poles of the carport which is present in the hall centre (Coyte & McKeever, 2016). Thus could prove to be a hazard for the people with visual problems to move themselves using their wheel chair.

According to Mohammadi and Momayez (2013), social capital can be defined as a situation whereby the different members assist one another and share various places and activities without asking for additional help. There exists an environment of trust, participation and contributions that makes the living sustainable. The members have equal status which bonds those using similar leisure and community activities.

There does exist some social capital at club which is fostered by likeminded people. Occasional fund raising and newsletters are distributed and this attracts new members as well.

• The client members are very friendly and assist one another
• They have a relationship like that of friends and colleagues.
• They value one another and stay in harmony
• The environment is quite social and they enjoy spending leisure time with one another by drinking coffee and playing games.
• To enhance it further the promotion needs to involve more people and the audit suggests that certain improvements with respect to the given points can be made:
• The centre needs to allow more inclusive accessibility and not just old and disabled crowd.
• The community centre needs to apply for a grant to upgrade the residence and spread awareness regarding their offering
• They need to make the access to the place more open so that one can walk or move without assistance and have help all around if an individual cannot.
• They are also suggest to develop a universal design plan to assist during evacuation

References

Access Audit Checklist. (2018). Schools-secure.essex.gov.uk. Retrieved 18 April 2018, from https://schools-secure.essex.gov.uk/pupils/sen/the%20equality%20act%20and%20accessible%20schools/pages/accessauditchecklist.aspx

Bulmer, M. (2015). The social basis of community care (routledge revivals). Routledge.

Coyte, P. C., & McKeever, P. (2016). Home care in Canada: Passing the buck. Canadian Journal of Nursing Research Archive, 33(2).

Flinders University. (2018). Onlinelibrary-wiley-com.ezproxy.flinders.edu.au. Retrieved 18 April 2018, from https://onlinelibrary-wiley-com.ezproxy.flinders.edu.au/doi/epdf/10.1111/1467-8551.12034

Hawkesbury City Council. (2014). Access and inclusion checklist. Retrieved from: https://www.hawkesbury.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/69160/Access-and-Inclusion-Checklist-2014-June.pdf

Jack Young Seniors Centre. (2018). Salisbury.sa.gov.au. Retrieved 18 April 2018, from https://www.salisbury.sa.gov.au/Live/Community/Aged_Services/Jack_Young_Seniors_Centre

Mohammadi, S., & Momayez, A. (2013). The role of social capital in entrepreneurship of people with disability. Asian Journal of Research in Social Sciences and Humanities, 3(11), 316-326. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/1467534785?accountid=10910

VU, U. (2016). Conducting a disability audit. Canadian HR Reporter, 19(5), pp. 7-10