St Mirren Football Club has conducted an initial review of its accessibility policies and practices and wishes to communicate with supporters regarding future actions.
Following internal operational meetings in recognition of the importance of ensuring our supporters are included in policy creation, the club has engaged with a local independent disability charity – the multi-award winning I Am Me Scotland – www.iammescotland.co.uk. I Am Me is an organisation that began in Paisley in 2012, achieving charity status in 2015. It aims to promote equality and diversity by raising awareness of disability and tackling disability hate crimes. I Am Me has since gone on to develop many innovative initiatives, including the recently launched Disability Friendly initiative, which is a network of organisations across Scotland who aim to support disabled people to feel valued and included within their communities.
The club has met with representatives from the charity to discuss the potential for the club to become the first registered Disability Friendly club in Scotland. As part of this discussion, I Am Me agreed to oversee the delivery of an independent accessibility review, which will look at all aspects of the club accessibility, including access, ticketing, facilities and support, ensuring that supporters and staff have the opportunity to be involved in the review.
The I Am Me team will initially use the ‘Help a Buddie’ tickets to undertake a mystery shopper exercise at the upcoming home fixture against Dundee. A group of people selected from I Am Me will attend. The individuals selected have varying disabilities and accessibility requirements, allowing them to understand a matchday experience from an independent point of view. Feedback from this exercise will be collated and help inform proposals/recommendations put forward to the review panel.
The I Am Me team will also run two in-person workshops conducted at the stadium, for supporters, these will be followed by a feedback session, ensuring participating supporters are included in the whole process. The workshops will be open to all supporters to apply and attend through an Eventbrite invite process, restricted to 30 attendees per session. As part of the information gathering process, we will also be distributing an online survey to the wider fanbase to get as many views as possible on accessibility across the club. To access the survey please click HERE.
The workshops, surveys and mystery shopping exercise will take an overall look at accessibility within the club, which will include access to the grounds, ticketing procedures and complete match day experience.
The aim is to create a well-rounded approach to reviewing the clubs accessibility processes and further identify other areas of improvement to allow supporters who have a disability, or additional support requirement, a more comfortable and inclusive approach to attending matches at The SMiSA Stadium. It is hoped that a full accessibility review will also provide opportunities for St Mirren to lead on inclusion and become a club that others seek to benchmark against.
An internal review panel will consider the recommendations from the workshops and the stakeholder survey. The panel will consist of representatives from the club, as well as SMiSA, the SLOs, St Mirren Disabled Supporters Association and other relevant external stakeholders. It will be chaired by an independent trustee of I Am Me Scotland.
The review findings will be used to draft a policy which will then be presented to the club board at the November board meeting for final review and sign off, with the aim to share with fans ahead of the launch of half season tickets.
Once the review has been completed, I Am Me Scotland will provide disability training for all operational staff and the club will be recognised as a Disability Friendly partner.
St Mirren Chief Operating Officer Keith Lasley said: "We received important feedback from supporters over the summer surrounding our wheelchair, ambulant disabled supporters' and carer tickets.
"As a fan-owned club, we appreciate the importance of measured feedback and took seriously any concerns that supporters may have had.
"We have worked closely with I Am Me to understand issues surrounding accessibility at St Mirren and are pleased to confirm the creation of our accessibility review that will help shape best-in-class practices going forward.
"We want to enhance the matchday experience for all connected with St Mirren and ensure that everyone is welcome."
Accessibility Workshop
Accessibility Workshop 1: eventbrite.co.uk/e/smisa-accessibility-workshops-tickets-1629771914669?aff=oddtdtcreator
Accessibility Workshop 2: eventbrite.co.uk/e/smisa-accessibility-workshops-evening-tickets-1630783129239?aff=oddtdtcreator
To learn more about I Am Me please visit their website iammescotland.co.uk
