Horsham’s Swan Walk marks Purple Tuesday for disabled shoppers

Purple Tuesday is organised by charity Purple to improve shopping experiences. It is the UK’s first accessible shopping day, recognising that one in five people have a disability, of which 80 per cent have a disability that is ‘hidden’ or ‘invisible’.

Swan Walk was recently awarded the Disability Confident level one accreditation, a government scheme that encourages employers to recruit people with disabilities and health conditions.

Centre manager Gill Buchanan said: “The shopping centre has developed a new Changing Places facility, and two new accessible toilets opened in March this year.

“There is no mall music in the centre which creates a less stressful environment for customers with noise sensitivity and the living room provides a time out space with comfortable seating for our customers and their carers.

“We are also delighted to be able to support the Horsham Our Town initiative highlighting safe havens and points of contact for our more vulnerable customers and we work closely with the Butterfly Project.

“The project team visited the centre on Purple Tuesday to share and celebrate the work that they do in the Horsham community and received fantastic feedback from our customers.”

Horsham’s Butterfly Project organises work and community activities for adults with disabilities to help them develop skills and confidence.