1.1 Accessing a range of services and facilities can be beneficial to a individuals wellbeing because it can give the individual a boast in self-esteem and personal development can be affected by using community services and facilities. Meeting new people, making friends and learning new skill would all be developed when assessing new services and facilities. Being an active part of the community can give a sense of worth. Meeting new people and developing new skills will help with intellectual needs and mental stimulation. Social needs will develop if they attend a services and facilities regularly and are able to build new relationships. Creating new relationships can also help with emotional needs, sharing stories and worries can relieve stress and create a bound with new friends.

1.2 The barriers that an individual may encounter when accessing a range of services and facilities are environmental, communication, psychological and financial. Environmental barrier would be lack of disabled toilets, narrow doorways, no ramps, lifts or lack if wheel chair access. Transport can also be an issue, no buses to direct location or no transport provided. Communication can also be an issue. If you have staff members unwilling to help to find out the information requested, have a lack of translators or interpreters, or lack of information available regarding the services, what the offer and how to access them fully. Psychological problems would be that the individual would note feel safe due to unfamiliarity, lack of confidences because of a fear or anxiety. An individual could also have an unwillingness to accept help or be concerned about a loss of independence. Letting a strange find out about your life when you’re uncertain of what’s ahead can be scary for some.

1.3 The barriers mentioned above can be overcome. With the individual you can either look at all the alternatives available or make sure the right equipment or aids are available to overcome the barriers. Firstly you will need to ensure you have collected all the information that is available to you then making an in depth plan of what’s going to happen. This will help you to identify the barriers you may come across. For example if the arena you going to did not have wheel chair access you would search for a facility that does. If there is no buses to the desired location we would then work with the individual to research other ways to get there, making sure we are checking with the services to see if there are buses supplied or finding out how much a taxi would cost so we are able to budget correctly. If an individual requires to be supported to an event we would need to ensure we find out what cost would be incurred for bringing a career. Sometimes this is free or at a discounted rate but would need to ensure that the individual is fully informed so they can budget correct for the activity

1.4 It is important to encourage an individual to challenge information about services that may present a barrier for them to participate. For example if service does not have wheel chair access this is a breach of the disability discrimination act 1995. If information is misleading or inaccurate everyone has the right to challenging for example if an event was giving out information in written form but no option for audio or braille then someone with a visual impairment would not be able to find out about the event. When encouraging an individual to challenging a service, support need to ensure they are only encouraging and support the individual rather than pressuring them to challenging the situation. Even if something is wrong or in breach of the disability discrimination act 1995 not everyone is happy to challenging a service but should always be giving the opportunity.
3.3 It is important to ensure an individuals’ rights and preferences are promoted when accessing and using services and facilities. Building self -esteem is finding your identity, recognising that values, beliefs, tastes and preferences are the things that make us who we are. Often preferences can be dismissed because they are inconvenient or do not fit in with the system. By ensure the individual has chosen the activity and it’s what they would like to rather than what’s available the individual has a better chance of enjoying the activity, this will help to promote good wellbeing. Everyone has rights, if a services or facility does not have the correct disability access do not agree any other arrangement to provide access eg via good entrance without making sure the individual is okay with this, as everyone has the right to access a building the same as everyone else and may not feel comfortable or see why they should use a back door.