🎄 It might be “the most wonderful time of the year” for many. But if your festive celebrations aren’t inclusive, then it won’t be so wonderful for disabled people. The festive season should be accessible to everyone 💜 Here are a few tips for how you can make that happen! 💡 Pick fairy lights that have a gentle or adjustable flash. 🥂 Choose accessible venues for your get-togethers. 🎁 Try wrapping presents loosely to make them easy to open. 😴 Listen to disabled family, friends, or colleagues if they say they need a break! 🍪 If you’ve brought or made a lovely festive treat for people to eat, label it clearly for anyone with specific dietary or sensory needs. 📅 Embed seasonal activities in your usual schedule, to help anyone who likes having a routine feel more comfortable. 🎶 Keep loud noises to a minimum. Lots of us love festive music, but too many noises might be overstimulating for some disabled people. All this can make the festive season more inclusive, so everyone can join in the fun! What other tips do you have? 🎅 - We can see from the comments that we’ve missed a crucial factor here. We know that for many people the risk of infection at in-person gatherings is a big concern, and we should have acknowledged this in our post. There are 14 million disabled people in the UK, many of whom will getting together with family and friends in the coming weeks. The intention of this post was to get people thinking of ways that traditional festive get-togethers can often exclude disabled people. But we should have paid more thought to the ongoing danger Covid poses to some members of the disabled community, and we apologise for not being inclusive ourselves in the way we put this post together.