At Repair Cafes, we’re all about reducing landfill, saving people money, sharing skills and building a strong community. Making sure our Repair Cafes are welcoming and accessible to everyone is important too. Whether you’re a volunteer, organiser or a visitor, here’s a friendly guide to help us all create a more inclusive space.

Creating a Welcoming Atmosphere

It’s important to encourage kindness, understanding and inclusivity among volunteers and visitors. Our only age limit on volunteering is over 16, which is because of insurance.

People should be able to choose how they are referred to and it’s ok to ask if you are not sure how to pronounce someone’s name or what their pronouns are. If you’re unsure about this, you can check here: Understanding Pronouns or here: Stonewall

Allergy and Dietary Needs

It’s a good idea to offer a variety of refreshments if possible – including hot and cold drinks, vegan, dairy-free and gluten-free choices – and to label them clearly. https://www.narf.org.uk/natashaslaw

Language and Communication

Our volunteers are fantastic at talking visitors through the repairs in plain language, which facilitates great skill-sharing. Our repair forms and information posters are available in both Welsh and English; it’s really good for people to have the option to access our events via their language of choice and, if possible, to have bilingual volunteers who are wearing a badge to identify them.

For Welsh speaking volunteers, free resources are available, including lanyards and badges, plus access to downloadable posters: Iaith Gwaith | Welsh Language Comissioner If your venue doesn’t have Welsh language signage a guide is available here: canllaw-arwyddion

Accessibility

Everyone’s venues are different but it’s great to invest some time in ensuring that the space is easy to navigate for everyone. This includes ramps, space to manoeuvre, accessible restrooms and chairs with arms. It is also a good idea to print off the easy-read version of our House Rules and to ensure that the text on information signs is in a large font and accompanied by a relevant image. https://www.disabilitywales.org/

For further information, please visit: https://diversecymru.org.uk/equality-in-wales/ https://www.stonewallcymru.org.uk/ https://wrc.wales/ https://wenwales.org.uk/ https://www.welshlanguagecommissioner.wales/businesses-and-charities/cynnig-cymraeg