Megan, the Coalition’s Involvement Officer shares with us her day at the Rural Life Living Museum providing Disability Awareness Training with colleague Jennie. On Saturday 28th February my colleague and I, alongside my Assistance Dog Rowley, delivered Disability Awareness Training to around 80 staff members and volunteers at the Rural Life Living Museum. This was […]

We were delighted to be invited back to the Royal Surrey to deliver some disability awareness training to their next intake of trainee GPs!  Megan, Nikki and Rowley spent the morning talking about the importance of accessible communications, accessible buildings and how GPs can think differently to ensure inclusion for all. Some of our wonderful […]

The Surrey Vision Action Group visited the Accessibility Discovery Centre at Google HQ in London recently! Members were taken on a tour of the Accessibility Discovery Centre, they got to hear about and feel various accessibility tools and products. Jane, Chair of Surrey Vision Action Group, share’s her experience of the day: ‘We had an amazing […]

Jonathan, one of our members, is visually impaired and has recently started using Meta Ray-Ban glasses to assist with tasks both inside and outside of the home. Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses (available in the UK) assist visually impaired users through AI-powered “Look and Tell” features. They allow users to verbally ask for descriptions of their […]

Our final National Lottery Wellbeing Get Together was a morning of Christmas Crafts, Coffee and Chat at our head office in Burpham. It was a great way to finish of the year, and our members were showing lots of festive cheer with plenty of Christmas jumpers to be seen. We started the morning with a […]

As we wheel and step into 2026, it’s a great moment to look back at how far accessibility has come and, just as importantly, how far we still have to go. For Disabled people, knowing whether a café, GP surgery, shop, or community space is actually accessible can make the difference between confidence and frustration, […]

As you may remember, we have been campaigning against the new development that was proposed for Redhill Train Station. The proposed development would mean that Disabled people could no longer use the station safely. Nikki, and Yasmin attended the hearing at Reigate Town Hall in September and spoke on behalf of Disabled people. Nikki, was […]

On the 1st December 2025, we held our first ever raffle, raising £1,050 of unrestricted funds for The Coalition. Thank you so much to everyone who supported the raffle and took part! Please see below the list of lucky prize winners: Jonathan Fisher, Jennifer Watson, Nicky Marson, Victoria Smith, Pam Murphy, Ray Stonehill, Marcelle Pike, Ian Beswick, […]

For our latest Wellbeing Get Together we returned to the martial arts to try a session of inclusive Tai Chi. We started with some background information about Tai Chi from our instructor Paul. Tai Chi is a Chinese martial art that was originally developed for combat and self-defence. It was derived from the martial arts […]

Our Involvement Team have created a list of free/low cost Christmas events and lunches across Surrey over December. PDF version: Word version:

If you go down in the woods today, you’re sure of a big surprise! Yasmin, Nikki, one of our members, Suzan, and Sam from the Surrey Hills were filming a podcast about the importance of the countryside being accessible to all. We were at Devil’s punchbowl in Hindhead, a beautiful site that treats all of […]

Kimberley, The Coalition’s Project Officer, shares her review of the film ‘I Swear’. One of the perks of being a Cineworld card holder is getting to see secret screenings. It’s always quite strange to go to a cinema and have no idea what you are seeing until it comes up on the screen. It’s also […]

Nikki and Rachel, the Coalition’s CEO, and Fundraising Lead, were invited by Haidee Thomas, Surrey Museums Engagement Officer at the Surrey Museums Partnership, to speak at their members meeting at the Woking History Centre about their exciting new heritage project, ‘Improving Museum Accessibility beyond Statutory Requirements.’ The Coalition will partner with Guildford Museum, East Surrey […]

We’re excited to announce the first ever Coalition raffle! The Great Coalition Raffle will help to raise vital funds to support Surrey Coalition of Disabled People. We’ve got a fantastic selection of prizes that have been generously donated by local businesses. To view the prizes and to purchase raffle tickets please visit the following link: Surrey […]

Our wonderful member, Ted, won the Volunteers Award as part of the Reigate & Banstead Volunteer Awards. Unfortunately Ted wasn’t able to make the presentation evening in July so we asked the Mayor to pop in to the Belfry Centre to present Ted with his very much deserved award.  The Mayor said ‘It was an absolute pleasure to present Ted Pottage with […]

Surrey Coalition of Disabled People has won the Community Organisation: Disability Award in this year’s National Diversity Awards in association with HSBC UK. More than 85,000 nominees with 125 finalists in 10 categories were named in recognition of their dedication to advancing equality, diversity and inclusion. Surrey Coalition of Disabled People is a user-led charity […]

Members of the Coalition met with Zöe Frankling MP to discuss accessibility at train Stations. Our members met Zöe at Clandon Station and pointed out several issues with access to that station as well as discussing the wide ranging issues that can impact an individual’s ability to travel. Zoe has shared a video about the things […]

For the last year Is from Treloars has joined our Communications Team for her internship, as a Social Media Administrator.   During the internship Is interviewed Nikki, CEO of The Coalition, and Vikki, the Co-chair of the charity. As well as interviewing, Is edited the videos ready to be shared on The Coalition’s social media. Over the last […]

For International Assistance Dog Week, The Coalition and Sensory Services by Sight for Surrey are sharing advice on rights of entry for Assistance Dogs, how to act around an Assistance Dog and the impact access refusals can have on the handler. What is an Assistance dog? Assistance Dogs are highly trained to support Disabled people […]

About the focus groups: These focus groups act as a safe spaces for adults with learning disabilities and their Carers to share their experiences of using services in East Surrey.  The Coalition will use the focus groups’ findings to help Surrey Heartlands understand where services are working well and where they are not, and how they can […]

Our Wellbeing Get Together for June was a visit to Hampton Court Palace including a tour of the Tudor Palace. For an historic building a lot of care and thought has been given to making the buildings accessible. There is a good deal of information available on the website to help with planning your visit. […]

Surrey Coalition of Disabled People’s comment following the government vote on the proposed Personal Independence Payments (PIP) and Universal Credit. The concessions that were announced earlier this week and during the debate in parliament, stating that existing claimants of PIP and Universal credit would be unaffected by the proposals is absolutely the correct course of action. […]

Megan, our Involvement Officer, shares her supercar driving experience. Due to being registered Severely Sight Impaired (legally blind) alongside other medical conditions, I am unable to hold a driving license on medical grounds. The head injury which caused my disabilities happened when I was just 15 years old, so I never learned how to drive […]

Did you know that this week (12th – 18th May) is Mental Health Awareness Week? The theme this year is community and bringing people together. It’s so important that we all take the time to look after our mental health. As we mark Mental Health Awareness Week, we’re reminded of the importance of finding moments […]

Nikki, our CEO, attended an accessible transport policy roundtable discussion on the Bus Services Bill. The Bus Services Bill is currently going through the House of Lords and will soon reach the House of Commons to be debated by MPs. This roundtable, chaired by Baroness Grey Thompson gave organisations an opportunity to share their views […]

Yasmin, our Involvement Lead and four of our members met up in the Discovery Centre at Newlands Corner for ‘Woodland Word Walking’ as part of Surrey Hills Society’s the Growing Together Project. Previously Coalition members had attended events like bird spotting at Frensham Little Pond and had a tour of West Horsley Place, and come […]

The Access to Food scheme closed at the end of March 2025.   Since April 2024, the Coalition – in partnership with Good Company and funded by Surrey County Council – ran the Access to Food scheme. The scheme funded a taxi ride to Disabled applicants nearest food bank, or in exceptional circumstances, a supermarket voucher.   […]