From all these experiences and various brainstorming sessions, the Stichting Toegankelijk Uit Eten (Accessible Eating Foundation) was born. Our goal is to create a national register through our website toegankelijkuiteten.nl (accessible dining) that provides insight into the accessibility of restaurants for people with mobility impairments.
In this way, people with mobility impairments can see on our website how accessible a restaurant is. People can filter on a city or an area, so you can see at a glance which restaurants are accessible.
Who will join us?
We work with volunteers, divided over all provinces. They go out unannounced and often combine this with a planned dinner or go out especially for this purpose. The volunteer decides for himself whether afterwards he announces to the entrepreneur that the premises have been tested. We are still looking for enthusiastic people who would like to test restaurants for accessibility. At the time of writing, fellow board member Luana and I also have a vacancy for a third board member. Who can send us an email to [email protected]?
What is tested?
Catering establishments are tested via the online checklist, which is unfortunately only available in Dutch at the moment. The checklist was drawn up on the basis of experience and asks for information about disabled parking spaces, entrances, thresholds, disabled toilets, the presence of a mobile cash machine, an assistance dog and more.
The board converts the checklist into a review, which we then submit to the restaurant. They are then informed and can indicate if there are any inaccuracies in the review. After five days, the review goes online. This creates a national overview of tested restaurants and offers people with mobility impairments a tool to quickly and easily see which restaurants are accessible to them.
I would like to finish with a quote that I read every Friday morning when I am at the physiotherapist: ”My greatest disability is perhaps between your ears”. And there is some truth in that.
