Farewell to ADAPT

ADAPT:  Another acronym?  It stands for "Access for Disabled people to Arts Premises and Theatres."  As this name implies, it has promoted good practice in adapting theatres, art galleries, museums and similar premises so that access to them presents no barriers to disabled people.  The trust has made annual awards.

In the 1990s, I joined the panel of judges who made the awards.  The panel included the Earl of Snowdon, the actor Donald Sinden, and Margaret Tebbit, who became a permanent wheelchair user as the result of injuries sustained in the Brighton bomb.  The trust employed consultants, who reported to the judging panel on premises nominated for the awards.

I had an invitation from the secretary of the Trust to the 2006 award ceremony, which took place at the Victoria and Albert Museum.  It was accompanied by a letter, in the terms set out below.

"The ADAPT Trustees have decided to wind up the Trust in December 2006 as they feel that it has fulfilled the remit of the Trust Deed i.e. "to promote access for all" to arts premises through grant aid, awards and by advising on access issues. It was originally intended that ADAPT should finish in 2001 when it was hoped that all major arts venues in the UK would be accessible, but the work continued until we were sure that the Disability Discrimination Act had been implemented and that other bodies such as the Lottery Boards and Arts Councils had access firmly on their agendas.

"The ADAPT legacy is testament to its effectiveness - over 700 venues have received grants and awards totaling over £3 million and many more venues have benefited from its consultancy and advisory service. In addition ADAPT has been a major player in changing attitudes to disability and has contributed to many government bodies including significant input on access to the Building Regulations.
It is not quite the end for ADAPT as some of the Trustees along with Geoffrey Lord, the Founder of the Trust, and I will be joining an advisory panel to be set up by the University of Reading Research Group for Inclusive Environments. This means that the Trust's collective expertise in advising on access issues will not be lost.

"The Trustees would like to thank you for your wonderful support over the years and hope that you will be able to join them at a final ceremony in London on Wednesday 8 November."

I attended the ceremony.  I concluded that the optimistic tone of the letter was justified.  But, as Herbert Asquith said in a different context, we must "wait and see."
John Wall