Shops and businesses looking to boost their economy in these credit crunch times should be looking to the “blue pound” as a way of attracting more customers, says a leading campaigner for disability rights.

With the news that Haverfordwest has been chosen as a case study town for Disability Wales’ Streets Ahead campaign, the organisation’s vice-chairman, Henry Langen, of Narberth, is calling on traders to ensure their premises and services are accessible to people with disabilities.

“That doesn’t just mean having good access for people in wheelchairs, because they only form a small percentage of our disabled population,” explained Henry.

“It extends to services such as clear signing and helpful, patient assistants, to make shopping easier for visually-impaired people and those with learning difficulties. Even simple things like having chairs in shops and offices for customers who can’t walk or stand for long periods.”

Henry, who has muscular dystrophy and relies on his electric wheelchair to get around, refers to the spending power of people with disabilities as the blue pound, because of the disabled blue badge scheme.

“All these people have money to spend, and will choose to spend it in the businesses where they feel physically and mentally comfortable,” he pointed out. “And with the recession, businesses will be wanting to do all they can to extend their customer base.”

The Streets Ahead campaign is aimed at raising awareness of access to shops, businesses and public services such as libraries and council offices, and Disability Wales is hoping that people will get in touch to highlight examples of good and bad practice.

Said Henry: “The Disability Discrimination Act in 2004 has led to the removal of a certain amount of barriers to accessing goods and services, but we also know that much more can be done.”

Haverfordwest was chosen as the campaign’s case study town because its disabled access facilities are, in the main, among the best in Wales.

“In fact, the whole of Pembrokeshire is flying a very big flag in Wales for disabled rights, and that’s due in no small part to the county council’s access officer, Alan Hunt, who is doing sterling work,” said Henry, who also belongs to the Pembrokeshire Access Group.

“We hope we can play a large part in the new campaign by providing plenty of feedback from the county.”

Anyone who would like to send reports and photographs to Disability Wales, highlighting positive and negative access issues, can contact the organisation’s policy officer, Graham Findlay, on 02920 887325 or graham.findlay@disabilitywales.org.