Friends Action North East, (FANE) is a charity based in Newcastle upon Tyne, which has been supporting people in the North East with learning disabilities and/or autism, helping them to build and maintain friendships since 2004.

There are many barriers people face when making sustainable friendships, and finding accessible venues is one of them.
Access is a very important issue for businesses wanting to attract customers. There are over 10 million people with a limiting long term illness, impairment or disability in the UK, with a combined spending power in excess of £212 billion.
The aim of this app is to bring together information about the venues offering the best experience for everyone including people with additional needs. When reviewing a venue think about things such as:
Service- were the staff friendly, respectful and understanding of your needs?
Physical access- was there room to get around easily and an accessible toilet?
Signs and Symbols- were the signs/notices/menus clear and easy to understand?
Feedback- was it easy to have your say about your visit?
Venue Information- was there information available to enable you to plan your visit?

The Friends Action North East website has lots of information and resources to help people plan and support friendship activities including a community map listing over 4000 venues. We hope this app will help us to share this useful information and provide another way to record and celebrate the North East businesses that care about access and social inclusion.
www.friendsaction.co.uk