The Chairperson of the Equality Authority, Angela Kerins today launched For Service, For All, an essential guide for Credit Unions in ensuring their services are accessible to people with disabilities.

Speaking at the launch, Angela Kerins said “All organisations need to ensure that their services are tailored to the needs of people with disabilities. Making sure that your services are suitable for customers with disabilities gives the message to all of your customers that you take their needs seriously. The changes involved in making your business disability friendly can also benefit older people and the parents of young children”.

“By participating in the development of this very comprehensive guide, credit unions are leading by example, demonstrating best practice in ways that financial institutions can place their members with disabilities at the heart of their services. For Service, For All shows that for relatively small financial investment, institutions can improve their services for customers with disabilities. What matters is organisational attitude.”

For Service, For All, is the result of a partnership between the Equality Authority and with the Irish League of Credit Unions and the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland. The guide offers practical advice to credit unions on responding to members with disabilities. It looks at how credit unions can make their buildings disability-friendly. It also identifies the sort of training needed to ensure that staff can respond appropriately to members with disabilities.

According to Michael Dowd, Treasurer of the Irish League of Credit Unions:
“Credit unions firmly believe that financial services need to be inclusive and accessible to all in society. Initiatives such as the For Service, For All project are extremely important in ensuring that we as credit unions continue to meet the needs of all our members throughout Ireland”.

Anne McKernan, Director of Legal Services at the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland, was one of the speakers at the event. “Disability is a major area of work for us,” she explained. “We get more calls to our legal advice line about disability discrimination than anything else. We were pleased to have the opportunity to work with credit unions to make them more aware of what they can do to comply with the law and help ensure that financial services are accessible to disabled people.”

Note for Editors

For Service For All: A Practical Guide For Credit Unions To Improve Accessibility For Their Members is a joint initiative of the Equality Authority, the Irish League of Credit Unions and the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland. It is a guide for credit unions on making their services accessible to customers with disabilities. The guidance is based on pilot projects undertaken by Letterkenny, Bangor, Monasterevan, Oldcastle, Sundrive Road Dublin and Derry credit unions.

It is available for download from the Equality Authority’s website, www.equality.ie and from the Irish League of Credit Union’s website www.creditunion.ie.

ENDS