Autistic Voices In Devon
These member articles highlight the work we are doing raising the profile, concerns and needs of Autistic Adults in Devon with service providors and funders.
Member Articles
The Patient experience and accessibility Event at Exeter RD&E Hospital, April 2026
RD&E hospital recently held an event to launch its new accessibility information guides. We all know how daunting it can be to face the prospect of visiting a new healthcare premises, or an unfamiliar department within one, especially when our main concern is to talk about the health problem that
makes us need to be there in the first place.
Dimensions For Autism received an invitation to the launch event on behalf of our community.
Two of our Devon Autism Ambassadors Monika and John, attended the event and set up our table top stand in advance of the main presentation of the new information guides. We spoke to several attendees, including clinicians and administrators, who expressed an interest in learning more about our organisations.
The new guides themselves have been produced in partnership with AccessAble (formerly DisabledGo), which was founded in 2000 by a wheelchair user who was frustrated by the poor and misleading information then generally available. It has expanded over the years to cover thousands of venues, including shops, restaurants, tourist attractions, and hotels, as well as accessible toilets and healthcare facilities. It appears to be a thoroughly committed organisation; the guides are regularly updated. Its website is well worth a look:
Unsurprisingly, the detailed guides are mostly aimed at those with more obvious physical disabilities; I have been unable to find access guides for neurodivergent conditions on either the RD&E https://www.royaldevon.nhs.uk/, (other than a mention of autism under the usual heading of learning disability, for which the links didn’t work!), or the AccessAble websites. As they stand, however, the guides would seem likely to be very helpful to the main target groups, after learning how to navigate the website.
However, there does seem to be a genuine willingness by both organisations to continue to improve all aspects of the provision. RDUH Foundation Trust mentions on the website that it is now accredited as a “communication accessible organisation”, the first NHS Trust to receive this status as a whole organisation.
That seems to be a move in the right direction for us.
https://communication-access.co.uk/).
All concerned claim to welcome feedback from service users.