Steps at the door. Gaps at the platform. Bar stools and nothing else. Cars parked across the bus stop. Millions of people are turned away every day — not by their disabilities, but by decisions other people made.
We’re here to help you push back.
disabled people in the UK — about 1 in 4 of us
of Tube stations still have no step-free access — 153 of 270
GB rail stations lack step-free access to every platform
the estimated annual spending power venues turn away
Most barriers aren’t dramatic. They’re ordinary things nobody thought about: the single step into a theatre, the “level access” train with a 20 cm gap, the bar with only high stools, the bus stop nobody can reach because a car is parked across it. Ordinary for some. Impossible for others.
Theatres, clubs, pubs and shops that a single step — or a "cosy" basement loo — puts out of reach. What venues must do, and how to ask.
Step-free that isn't, ramps that never arrive, assistance that doesn't show. Your rights on buses, trains and the Tube.
Bus stops used as parking, dropped kerbs blocked, councils that shrug. How to document it and force the issue.
Hundreds of London train and tube stations still have no wheelchair access at all — and it gets worse the further you go from the capital. We’re based in Yorkshire, where even catching a local bus can be a battle: our own village stop sits on a main road, and on bad days parked cars block it so completely that nobody can board.
We started Access Matters because we were tired of being told these are small problems. They aren’t small. They decide whether people can work, see friends, or leave the house.
Practical, plain-English help — what the law says, what to say on the day, and how to escalate when you’re ignored.
Over 350,000 people in the UK live with aphasia after stroke or brain injury; thousands more speak through devices, or with a stammer, or not at all. Intelligence intact, phone lines impossible. Here is what they are owed, and what actually helps.
Half a million people in the UK live with IBD, and well over 100,000 with a stoma. For them, “customers only” and a judgemental look at the accessible loo can end a day out. The cards, keys and comebacks that keep the door open.
If you have a significant scar, birthmark, skin condition or facial difference, the Equality Act protects you automatically — no need to prove your life is limited by it. Almost nobody knows the clause exists, including the people discriminating.
The UK’s access record, pinned to a map. Gold for places that get it right, Silver for those that try, Red for those that need a push — and a live map of reported barriers, with companies answering in the open. On your phone, one tap pins a report exactly where you’re standing.
Every unreported barrier is recorded as a day when nothing went wrong. Tell us what happened — we’ll point you at the right next step.