Covid-19 continues to have a disproportionate impact on disabled people. 3 in 5 people who died from Covid-19 at the height of the pandemic were disabled, and the long-lasting impact of the disease continues to be felt.

Hosting an Awards event in this context presents many challenges. But we know that many disabled people value the opportunity to come together and celebrate the achievements of our community.

We have taken a number of steps to reduce the risk from Covid-19 at our Awards. But we cannot remove it entirely. That’s one of the reasons why the Awards will be a hybrid event. We have planned both virtual and in-person attendance to be cohesive and engaging. The livestream is a full multi-camera production. There will be live captioning, audio description and a BSL interpreter throughout the livestream. Winners and presenters have the option to join in person or from home. 

For anyone attending in person, we have provided the following Covid-19 advice:

• If you have tested positive for Covid-19, please stay at home and attend by livestream. 
• If you have even mild symptoms of a respiratory infection on the day of the event, please stay at home and attend by livestream. 
• Consider wearing a face covering if you can. We will not be enforcing face coverings for accessibility reasons. Please respect that not everyone can wear a mask.  
• Please use hand sanitising stations throughout the venue and wash your hands regularly.

We have also taken the following steps, to help reduce the risk of airborne viruses spreading:

• The venue we have selected is large and we will not be filling it to capacity. This will improve ventilation and allow guests to be spaced far apart.  
• We have installed 6 air filters to minimise risk of spreading infection and ensure healthy, fresh and sterile air.   
• We will be making face-masks available.

However, there are sections of the venue are open to the public and venue staff not associated with the Scope Awards. There will also be suppliers and contractors on site. These factors are out of our control. We cannot control for other elements of guests’ attendance – such as public transport, or accommodation.  

The disability community is hugely diverse, with differing and sometimes conflicting access needs. Our guests live with a range of health conditions which means that for many, face coverings are difficult or impossible to wear.

As such, we recognise that we cannot eradicate all risk. For all of these reasons, we encourage guests to celebrate the Awards in a way that is comfortable for them – whether at the event or via the livestream.

We consulted with our co-production group on our approach to Covid safety when we established the event. We have also consulted with all in-person guests about their needs, and met all access requests we received from guests.