Purple Tuesday 2020

We are proud to be a Sector Partner for this year’s Purple Tuesday, which took place on Tuesday 3rd November 2020. The day started off with a live launch, which saw the Purple Tuesday promotional video being aired on London’s Piccadilly Lights.

In light of the pandemic this year, Purple Tuesday is more important than ever. As a second nationwide lockdown looms, Purple is calling on organisations to rethink their current strategies towards disabled customers for Purple Tuesday to help them take advantage of the £274 billion Purple Pound – the consumer spending power of disabled people and their families. 

Mike Adams OBE, Founder and Creator of Purple Tuesday, said:

“National and regional lockdowns have shone a very bright light on the approach of organisations to their disabled customers. At one end of the spectrum there is a sense of bunkering down, neglect and grouping all disabled customers as vulnerable, making them feel helpless and not valued.  Other businesses have seen their proactive approach as a symbol of their brand, a socially aware organisation that is connecting or reconnecting with their customers.

“With 22% of the population being disabled, meeting their customer needs is a huge economic and social opportunity for businesses. Purple Tuesday this year is about making do and mend and getting organisations to adopt, adapt and implement practice that has previously worked for others across all sectors and of all sizes to support the economic recovery.”

More than 3,500 organisations have used Purple Tuesday to make practical commitments to improve the disabled customer experience. Activities include the adoption of the Hidden Disabilities Sunflower Lanyard Scheme, using ‘not every disability is visible’ signage, workforce training and encouraging staff to learn hello and goodbye in British Sign Language.

Kathryn Knowles, Managing Director of Cura, said:

“In our company our entire mission is to help people with medical conditions to get insurance. Helping people is at the core of everything that we do. Purple Tuesday hits home for us that this isn’t yet the norm, for many organisations. It makes us realise how important it is to get the message out to other organisations that being accessible is the right thing to do and it doesn’t have to be big expensive changes to do it.”

Kathryn has also made a personal pledge by taking part in a British Sign Language course, she hopes to be able to bring this in to the company and share her skills with the rest of the team.