Information for disabled visitors to London

For people with disabilities who are thinking about a trip to London here are a couple of websites that offer advice on how to find accomodation and services that might meet their particular needs.

The National Accessible Scheme at Directgov.uk provides standards that tourism service providers can aim to reach and receive accreditation for. They say this will not guarantee compliance with the Disability Discrimination Act but will give the business a recognised rating that they can display on promotional material and advertising and hopefully more of the travel industry will want to work to gain these symbols.

There are ten symbols to look out for and they are split into three categories, which are physically disabled people, blind or visually impaired people and deaf or hearing impaired people. Look out for these or ask before booking whether your hotel is involved in this scheme.

Tourism for All is a national registered charity that says its mission is ‘to provide information to people with disabilities and older people in relation to accessible accommodation and other tourism services’ and to offer ‘expertise and support to the tourism and hospitality sector to provide accessible services for all.’
Its a pretty comprehensive site with information on disabled accessibility to attractions, public transport, parking, public toilets among other things and information to the travel industry on why and how they can look after disabled visitors.

Yahoo London Hotels