When is a PEEP so much more than a PEEP? When it makes you feel like a bit of a celeb.

By Rebecca Elliott, Lead Disability Business Partner at Business Disability Forum.

If it’s done right, driven by an ambition to include those with disabilities, a Personal Emergency Evacuation Plan is so much more than just a piece of paper with your name on it; it can make a visitor feel not just safe, but valued and appreciated.

Back in 2023, the Business Disability Forum Summer Reception was hosted by DLA Piper and I had such a great experience.

At that event, our Director of Policy and Research, Angela Matthews, spoke about the BDF findings in the #GreatBigWorkplaceAdjustmentsSurvey. She explained the psychological safety findings and how important it is for disabled people to feel “bodily” safe in their environment while I sat in there with my very own PEEP safely tucked inside my wheelchair pocket.

You see on arrival I was greeted by security and directed to the only disabled parking spot by the reception doors. On site parking at an event in central London is always a rare privilege, so I wasn’t totally sure that right belonged to me and I took my keys with me into the reception foyer, just in case I needed to move my car. Just in case that space wasn’t really reserved for little old me…

However, as I rolled into reception in my wheelchair, the DLA Piper team seemed to know who I was, why I was there, and yes… my car was parked in the correct space!

And then I met Dave.

Dave handed me my individualised PEEP document, which included a very clear evacuation map. My allocated safe refuge space was clearly marked. He then accompanied me up to the floor where the event would take place and he showed me around the space, so I knew where to locate my emergency exit. Then Dave proudly demonstrated the portable ramps he would put down – when I was ready – to make the balcony just as accessible to me as the ambulatory person next to me.

I’ve never felt more carefully cared for by complete strangers in a business setting and I will always look back on that day as one where everything was done so well. It was impressive and has lingered in my memory ever since, as a happy experience. I felt safe in my chair, safe in my body and able to focus on what I was there to do meeting with BDF Members and Partners on a summer afternoon.

As a wheelchair user, I expect there to be challenges and more often than not, I experience exactly that – lifts which don’t work, a ramp with an unsafe incline which terrifies me when my wheels slip as I cross it. I will struggle to park outside a venue, or find a safe place to stop the car and be able to get my wheelchair unloaded.

I’m sure for Dave it was just another day, doing a job he did well, removing barriers for others and keeping them safe but for me, it was extraordinary because it was not the usual. It was the ideal and I will always celebrate that when I see it and more importantly when I feel safe enough to feel it!

Thank you DLA Piper. And Dave. 😊

For more information, read more BDF’s new resource on ‘How to plan accessible and inclusive events,’ published on 1 December.