WelcoMe to Democracy - By Gavin Neate

PhysioPod Forward: The International Day of Persons with Disabilities is on 3rd December each year, which promotes the rights and well-being of people with disabilities at every level of society and development and raises awareness of their position in political, social, economic, and cultural life. The WelcoMe App offers inclusive and accessible services. How has the app benefited democracy? Gavin Neate discusses the WelcoMe app, it's uptake, and what's next...

"In 2017, I voted. As I walked through the door of the polling station, I approached the returning officers, found my way to the voting booth, located who I wanted to vote for on the list, and voted. As someone working in the disability sector, I wondered how my experience would have been if I had been disabled myself. This thought had been with me on the run-up to the election and stayed with me throughout the entire process. In the moment, I recorded the following video:

WelcoMe, my company’s customer service solution, only existed in its beta version at that time, but it was obvious to me, even then, that if this solution could help disabled visitors arrive at retailers, leisure centres, and hospitals, it could also help them arrive at polling stations and could perhaps one day even be instrumental in improving disability representation within Democratic processes.

From then until now, I have not only dreamed but actively planned to address the issues I had seen, and today, on the International Day of Disabled Persons, I am incredibly proud to say that progress has very much been made.

But what is WelcoMe, and why did I feel it needed to exist?

WelcoMe was developed to directly address an issue I had seen during my career as a Guide Dog Mobility Instructor. As a Mobility Instructor part of my job was to ensure that new Guide Dog Owners were independently mobile. This involved me observing them with their guide dogs both on the street and also within venues they wished to visit. On arrival, I would stand back and observe customer service interactions from a distance, later providing my client with tips on how best to interact with them, but often also taking a moment to speak to the staff member to provide them with top tips on how best to communicate with their visitor.

It was clear that if I or my client had the opportunity to provide this information in advance of an arrival, issues could be addressed, and the overall experience and results for both parties would be dramatically improved.

So, as often as I could, I would run ahead of my client and speak to staff members before they arrived. I would pass on key information on how best to meet my clients needs whilst also providing them with best practice tips to interact with all disabled people.

This was not easy and impossible to maintain or scale.

It made me think. If I could find a way to connect visitors to staff and provide this information digitally I would directly address the challenges and perhaps totally transform staff training around disability awareness.

In 2018, WelcoMe, the world's first proximity-based staff training, was launched and is now being used by over 200 venues across the UK and Republic of Ireland across all sectors, including retail, hospitality, tourism, health and leisure, and transport.

I never forgot about my video though and at the end of 2022, answering and winning, a call from the Scottish Parliament for a solution to improve access to MSP Constituency offices, I finally had the opportunity I had been waiting for.

WelcoMe is now available and being rolled out to all MSP Constituency offices across Scotland.

Of course, we don’t change Democracy overnight, and rolling out a service like WelcoMe takes time, relying on innovation Champions and early adopters to pave the way. To this end, it is right to name-check those who have already adopted WelcoMe and are offering it to their constituents now, and to thank The Scottish Parliament for adopting the service at the Parliament itself and the whole of Scotland.

Stuart McMilan
Maree Todd
Joe FitzPatrick
Ross Greer
Willie Rennie
Sarah Boyak
Rhoda Grant
Elena Whitham
Alexander Burnett, who demonstrates here how WelcoMe is accessed directly through his website, https://www.alexanderburnett.com/

So, have I accomplished what I set out to accomplish?

No, clearly I have not and I won’t have until we have the chance to introduce WelcoMe to a polling station. I am, however, aware that every day we prove that digital technology can be used to provide advance knowledge of an arrival at a given location, we can go someway towards creating a more equitable world and perhaps one day positively influence Democracy itself.

Happy International Day of Disabled Persons.

My visit to The Scottish Parliament