Bromley’s shopping centre, The Glades, is celebrating the success of its inaugural Disability Awareness Week.
The Glades asked local personal trainer, James O’Driscoll – Britain’s first blind CYQ qualified fitness instructor to launch the event together with Councillor Graham Arthur who is a portfolio holder for Bromley’s Adult and Community Services.
The award-winning dance company Magpie Dance is for people with learning disabilities and they are based at The Churchill Theatre. They performed at the launch by infront of shoppers in an interactive workshop. General Manager for Magpie Dance, Laura Riches said “I’m so grateful to the Glades for providing this opportunity to perform, partly because our dancers love to participate in public shows but especially because we recruited a brand-new member at this event who was not aware of our existence before!”
The week-long event, raises the profile of the needs of disabled and infirm people in the town and it allowed a number of charitable organisations, government agencies and disability suppliers to showcase their products and services.The Marketing Manager for the Glades, Maria Cooper said, “We were delighted that James O’Driscoll, a Bromley resident, was able to launch our new event. Since losing his sight unexpectedly twelve years ago, James has built a new life as a personal trainer with Virgin Active and is a truly inspirational figure.”
The Glades’ Shopmobility partner, Scooter & Mobilitymart, and other disability suppliers hosted displays and demonstrations of mobility vehicles, wheelchairs and a large range of equipment for daily living.
