Audit Report: Assessing Accessibility at Jack Young Community Centre

This report presents an accessibility audit of the Jack Young Centre, a community center providing leisure activities for seniors and other community members. The audit, conducted by a student, assesses the facility's accessibility features, including parking, pathways, and signage, to identify potential barriers for people with disabilities. The audit utilizes a checklist of questions sourced from the Hawkesbury City Council website to evaluate the centre's inclusivity. The student identifies positive characteristics, such as the friendly environment and social capital among members, while also highlighting areas needing improvement, such as emergency signage and door accessibility. The report concludes with recommendations to enhance the center's inclusivity, including applying for grants, improving access, and developing a universal design plan.

Running head: ASSIGNMENT
ASSIGNMENT
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

Table of Contents
Q1...............................................................................................................................................2
Q 2..............................................................................................................................................3
Q3...............................................................................................................................................5
Q4...............................................................................................................................................6
Q5...............................................................................................................................................6
Q6...............................................................................................................................................7
References..................................................................................................................................9

Assessment 1 Audit Activity 3
The Jack Young Centre provides leisure activities to the members and by conducting
various activities at various venues accessed. The facility also provides other services in an
inclusive manner for the other community members. The community organization needs to
have a broader vision to allow all participants to have equal rights.
Q1. What is the facility have you to audit in your local community?
The Jack Young Centre provides leisure services to the members through various
activities. Situated at 1 Orange Ave, Salisbury SA 5108, Australia, the community centre is a
specialised space for the seniors who want to spend their time leisurely and utilise it in an
efficient manner. The facility is open from 8:30 to 5 on weekdays and 8:30 am to 12: 30 pm
on the weekends. The centre serves to seniors above the age of 50 and takes an affordable
fees of 10$ monthly with separate weekly charges and food charge (Jack Young Seniors
Centre., 2018). The JYC is managed by the Salisbury council which often conducts
programs for the members.
The manager of the centre suggested that seniors can also work there and get paid for
the same. The centre is quite accessible from various transportation facilities including the
bus and train routes (Access Audit Checklist., 2018). Parking facilities are available for the
members. Apart from seniors, members with disabilities are also allowed.
The club committee has advised me that there are very few people with disabilities
that access the club. Participants with disabilities are usually hearing impaired and very little
interest has been received from community members with other types of disabilities. Those
who have participated have not remained in this community recreational option for long. The
committee are unaware of why this is the case.

The given audit is being undertaken to promote access and equity for the community
members. The council has availed facility flats and houses. The infrastructure is easy to
access without any stairs. They also provide frozen meal services, gardening, cleaning and
coffee bar.
Q 2. What questions have you chosen and where they sourced from? (Useful website or
web information you found)
The source for these questions was the Hawkesbury City council website. These questions
have been given in order to determine the efficiency of the facility provided for the seniors
(Flinders University., 2018). These questions help to assess the centre.
Question Yes No Question Yes No
Is there an adequate parking facility
available?
 Is the lighting facility in the buildings
adequate?

Is the given parking are close to the
building entrance?
 Is the building design help in
avoidance of hazards which are
visual?

Is the pathway suitable for the
disabled people and their equipments
 Does the floor surface avoid
reflection?

Do the ramps align with one another
( Hawkesbury City Council. ,2014)
 Are the corridors and path ways easily
accessible using wheelchairs?

Does the pathway have a width of
1000 mm and 2000 mm respectively
 Does the space between the furniture
and different structures allow


mobility?
Are there any stairs present?  Are there adequate signs put up in all
the parts of the building?

Are the doors easily accessible  Are Braille and tactile signs present? 
Is there a reception accessible with
the given wheel chair?
 Are the signs present, easy to read and
access?

Is there an amplifier device fit at the
reception?
 Is there a hearing induction loop
present which would allow the people
with disability to hear carefully?

Is there an accessible buzzer
available?
 Is the staffs trained to handle
disability?

Is there any information or data
available in form of a pamphlet for
the disabled?
 Is the kitchen available and accessible
using a wheel chair?

Is the customer waiting area free
from any obstacles?
 Is there a resting space present which
would allow people with disabilities to
change or take some rest?

Is the area spacious enough for
people to walk especially the ones
 Are the toilets easily accessible? 

with a disability?
Are the chairs in the customer
service room with arm chairs or
without?
 Are the fittings of the doors and light
switches accessible from all heights?

Is the floor service easy to use?  Is the facility adequate for the
differently able people?

Q3. Why did you decide on these questions, how did you anticipate the answers would
be useful in planning or increasing accessibility?
The given questions had been asked in order to determine the efficiency of the
different facilities available at the Young Centre. The questions aim to provide information to
the general population to help in promotion of an inclusive environment so that the
community can gain access to its services easily.
The questions will also be able to outline the gap that exists and provide them services
which they were promised (Bulmer, 2015). It will also help an individual to assess the safety
measures and identify the future of the facility. Furthermore, it will help in identifying
whether the centre is offering what it aims to promise.

Q4. Take your questions and used them to assess the activity in the community. Were
your question helpful in auditing the accessibility of the activity organisation? If any,
what changes would you make to your checklist?
The questions present in the given questionnaire were quite adequate in identifying
the various metrics for the judgement of the young centre (VU, 2016). However, after visiting
the centre, I realise that there could exist certain changes in the checklist with respect to the
following point:
 The quality of the food provided in the facility
 The satisfaction level of the existing members
 Determination of target audience.
Q5. What were the positive characteristics and or potential barriers your audit
questions assisted you to identify
While making the use of the audit questions, the following could be identified:
 The facility members need to be aged above 50.
 The members can be a support worker or an independent member
 There is no facility available for changing the nappies of the older crowd
 It was also identified that the emergency and evacuation signs are too small and
people with a visual effect will never be able to identify it.
 There are no sliding doors in the main hall which can make it difficult for the people
accessing a wheel chair or using any other physical disability to use the door
independently or evacuate from the building easily.
 There are no stairs which can cause tripping of the members.

There exists a problem with the path in the sense that the path is big enough except
for the poles of the carport which is present in the hall centre (Coyte & McKeever, 2016).
Thus could prove to be a hazard for the people with visual problems to move themselves
using their wheel chair.
Q6. Did you see evidence of social capital? Give an example of why you think you did or
did not
According to Mohammadi and Momayez (2013), social capital can be defined as a
situation whereby the different members assist one another and share various places and
activities without asking for additional help. There exists an environment of trust,
participation and contributions that makes the living sustainable. The members have equal
status which bonds those using similar leisure and community activities.
There does exist some social capital at club which is fostered by likeminded people.
Occasional fund raising and newsletters are distributed and this attracts new members as well.
The following was observed:
 The client members are very friendly and assist one another
 They have a relationship like that of friends and colleagues.
 They value one another and stay in harmony
 The environment is quite social and they enjoy spending leisure time with one another
by drinking coffee and playing games.
 To enhance it further the promotion needs to involve more people and the audit
suggests that certain improvements with respect to the given points can be made:
 The centre needs to allow more inclusive accessibility and not just old and disabled
crowd.

 The community centre needs to apply for a grant to upgrade the residence and spread
awareness regarding their offering
 They need to make the access to the place more open so that one can walk or move
without assistance and have help all around if an individual cannot.
 They are also suggest to develop a universal design plan to assist during evacuation.

References
Access Audit Checklist. (2018). Schools-secure.essex.gov.uk. Retrieved 18 April 2018, from
https://schools-secure.essex.gov.uk/pupils/sen/the%20equality%20act%20and
%20accessible%20schools/pages/accessauditchecklist.aspx
Bulmer, M. (2015). The social basis of community care (routledge revivals). Routledge.
Coyte, P. C., & McKeever, P. (2016). Home care in Canada: Passing the buck. Canadian
Journal of Nursing Research Archive, 33(2).
Flinders University. (2018). Onlinelibrary-wiley-com.ezproxy.flinders.edu.au. Retrieved 18
April 2018, from
https://onlinelibrary-wiley-com.ezproxy.flinders.edu.au/doi/epdf/10.1111/1467-
8551.12034
Hawkesbury City Council. (2014). Access and inclusion checklist. Retrieved from:
https://www.hawkesbury.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/69160/Access-and-
Inclusion-Checklist-2014-June.pdf
Jack Young Seniors Centre. (2018). Salisbury.sa.gov.au. Retrieved 18 April 2018, from
http://www.salisbury.sa.gov.au/Live/Community/Aged_Services/Jack_Young_Senior
s_Centre
Mohammadi, S., & Momayez, A. (2013). The role of social capital in entrepreneurship of
people with disability. Asian Journal of Research in Social Sciences and Humanities,
3(11), 316-326. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1467534785?
accountid=10910
VU, U. (2016). Conducting a disability audit. Canadian HR Reporter, 19(5), pp. 7-10