ABOUT

Enabling excellence in accessibilty

for people with hearing loss

via training and consultancy

Access Solutions is a training and accessibility consultancy run by deafened businesswomen Angie Aspinall and Julie Leggett.

Our aims

To improve access to hospitality services for people with hearing loss by working with the hospitality industry via staff training, consultancy, and the supply of specialist equipment.

To raise awareness of access issues, safety needs and legislative requirements relating to the hospitality industry.

To support members of the hospitality industry to meet their legal obligations and achieve excellence in customer care for people with hearing loss.

To raise standards of access and customer service via our Sounds Good charter mark.

To promote best practice via our website, www.hearinglossfriendly.com. We aim for this site to become the ‘go to’ website in the UK for people with hearing loss searching for visitor attractions, hotels, self-catering accommodation and conference centres which meet their access needs.

To expand our work to include supporting non-hospitality businesses and to promote best practice in all service areas.

To develop Hearing Loss Friendly so that it features other types of businesses and services with excellence in customer service and accessibility for people with hearing loss.

History

Access Solutions was launched on 1st September 2014 and the launch was swiflty followed by winning 'Yorkshire's Got Talent', a Dragon's Den-style event held as part of Kirklees Business Week.

On 22nd November 2014, Hearing Loss Friendly was launched.

In February 2015, Angie launched #Hearinglosshour on Twitter - a monthly networking hour for people with hearing loss to share tips, experiences and recommendations.

In 2015, we formed a consortium called 'Access Unlimited' - with partners Visits Unlimited and The Accessible Traning Company: together we developed and delivered Visit England's Access for All training.

On 12th July 2015, Access Solutions won a Theo Paphitis #SBS award. (#SBS is the Small Business Sunday Award which Theo gives out to deserving small businesses.)

Julie Leggett (Left) and Angie Aspinall (Right)

READ OUR STORY

Meet the team

Angie Aspinall, Director

Based in the Scottish Borders, Angie is the Director with responsibility for delivering training and accessibility audits in Scotland and the North of England.

Angie is an accessibility consultant and trainer, with seven years’ experience as a learning and development officer in a metropolitan authority, where she won several awards for her innovative training techniques. Angie leads on developing the training course for Access Solutions. She is also available for speaking engagements and guest lectures on 'Accessibility and hearing loss'.

Angie is the founder of #hearinglosshour, a monthly Twitter networking event for people with hearing loss, 1-2pm on the first Wednesday of the month.

A freelance journalist at Aspinall Ink, Angie writes about living with hearing loss for HearingLikeMe.com, Access Magazine and The Limping Chicken.

Angie is a product Ambassadot for Phonak CROS II and author of Phonak's guide to living with single-sided hearing.

Angie is the Hearing Ambassador for Accessible Derbyshire and involved in their exciting two-year project - The Big Push - which aims to make the Derbyshire Peak District the most accessible National Park in the UK.

Angie was first diagnosed with progressive conductive hearing loss in one ear and then, four years later, to a lesser degree in the other. In 2011, she suffered sudden sensorineural hearing loss in her 'better' ear: it proved to be profound and permanent. She uses a Phonak CROS hearing system and is a lipreader.

Follow Angie on Twitter:

@deaftraveltips and @Hearinglosshour

Julie Leggett, Director

Based in Essex, Julie is the Director with responsibility for delivering training and accessibility audits in Wales and the South of England.

Julie is an accessibility consultant, trainer, former tour operator and event manager, with over twenty years in events, travel and tourism. Julie has travelled all over the world and encountered a wide range of access issues relating to hearing loss. Julie delivered the '3rd International Hearing Loop Conference' and the 'Travel, Leisure and Accessible Tourism Conference' held in Eastbourne in 2013. She has also delivered numerous regional events for people with hearing loss.

Julie has bi-lateral hearing loss caused by Menière's disease; she lipreads and uses hearing aids.

Follow Julie on Twitter:

@access_Julie

Our Associates

We are supported by a range of Associates who each has one or more of the following attributes:

personal experience of hearing loss
professional knowledge relating to hearing loss
professional skills in conducting Access Audits
pan-disability access knowledge
training skills
public speaking skills

Awards and nominations

Yorkshire Choice Award

In 2015, Angie Aspinall was nominated for the 'Inspirational Individual of the Year Award' for being an inspiration to others by sharing the story of her sudden profound deafness and encouraging others to challenge the stigma associated with hearing loss. The winner will be announced on 2nd April 2016 at The Centenary Pavilions, Leeds. To vote for Angie, please click here.

Northern Power Woman Award

Angie Aspinall was secretly nominated for a 'Person with Purpose' Northern Power Women Award by her husband, Richard for the courage she has shown following her sudden deafness and the way in which she has turned a negative experience into a way of helping others via #hearinglosshour and via her writing and public speaking. Shortlisting takes place in January 2016 and, winners of the 2016 Northern Power Women Awards will be announced at a gala awards dinner on 3rd March 2016 at the Hilton Hotel, Deansgate, Manchester.

#SBS Award, 2015

#SBS is an award for small businesses, which is presented by former Dragon's Den star and entrepreneur, Theo Paphitis. Theo rewards the small businesses he thinks deserve a boost for the work they are doing. Winners become part of an exclusive networking family and reap the benefits of support form other small businesses.

Yorkshire Women of Achievement Awards, 2015

Angie Aspinall was nominated for the Yorkshire Women of Achievement Award for Courage for the courage and determination she has shown after suffering sudden sensorineural hearing loss. Angie is profoundly deaf in one ear and severely deaf in the other and, after a difficult period following the sudden deafness, Angie went on to set up two business and to write and speak about living with hearing loss.

Yorkshire's Got Talent, 2014

Winners of Dragon's Den-style business competition, Yorkshire's Got Talent 2014.

Judges:

Phil Taylor Gluck (Serial Entrepreneur)

Lawrence Tomlinson (LNT Group and Ginetta)

Nicky Pattinson (Inspirational Speaker and Sales Guru)

You can read about the event here.

Nominee