The ‘purple pound’ was a new expression to me when I read the supplement in Wednesday’s Guardian about the Disability Discrimination Act. If I could find the article online I would link to it but there’s no sign of it so here are the highlights of the piece by Linda Jackson: “It is estimated that there are about 12 million people with disabilities in the  UK with a combined household spending power of about £212bn a year – the so-called ‘purple pound.’ However, there are some businesses that are ignoring their needs, with the result that they are losing £1.8 billion a month.”

The article does cite some companies who are doing good things such as BT, EE and Sainsbury’s who have introduced a system for British Sign Language users to be able to contact their call-centre via video – brilliant! RBS, NatWest and Barclays are developing apps to  help disabled customers.

George Selvanera of the Business Directory forum says: “The rapid ageing of the  UK population, growing numbers of older and disabled people, and changing technology make the case for business investing in improving accessibility more and more compelling.”

It seems so obvious yet it isn’t happening very fast. Anyone know of any more good examples of companies which are doing something to make themselves more accessible?