Progress of sorts. Last weekend I went into a mobile phone shop to enquire about changing my current ancient Blackberry. I was greeted with a wry smile bordering on a beaming smirk!

For those of you who haven’t followed the saga, I have a Blackberry as I need a keyboard with physical buttons rather than just a touchscreen. I use my phone with a Bic pen in my mouth to type all messages and to access all non-call information, which means touchscreens simply don’t work for me as they sadly don’t respond to Bic pens. Many people have suggested I get a stylus, but you don’t tend to see stylus pens everywhere like you do Bic pens, so I think it would prove to be impractical.

The problems with my Blackberry are extensive.

It doesn’t support many apps, so I find myself totally isolated from much of the digital world, which includes the number one messaging app, WhatsApp! Some might argue this is a blessing but I can’t help but feel left out when I am unable to be a part of various group conversations between family and friends.

My camera doesn’t work which is a real shame, as with 7-month-old twins, I am reliant on others to capture those special moments for me.

Even if I reluctantly live with the above limitations, one of the biggest bugbears is the ‘a’ and ‘p’ keys are becoming very temperamental. My blog title, ‘Hy Birthdy’ is the message sent to my partner, Kristine, on her birthday a couple of weeks ago.

Although it makes for amusing conversations, the time has certainly come for an upgrade.

So, back to the mobile shop.

I can upgrade my Blackberry with another Blackberry, which I was delighted to hear actually runs off Android. However, despite the change in operating system, frustratingly Blackberry does not support the software updates. Therefore, it is likely to be WhatsApp today, gone tomorrow!

The shop assistant also politely pointed out the latest model was 2018, which is an indicator of its success (and no new model on the horizon!).

However, there was a shred of good news. Samsung are about to release a new phone and there are whispers it will include a keyboard. I have never followed the trail of a new launch with so much interest.

Which brings me around to the launch of Purple’s plans for Purple Tuesday 2020, and a trailer for you.

Spoiler alert. If you don’t want to know then look away now!

Purple Tuesday is changing the customer experience. This is achieved through organisations making and delivering on commitments to adapt, introduce and embed activities on the ground which make a real difference to the customer experience for disabled people.

Purple Tuesday is the change programme, the emblem, that makes this happen. So:

• We will work alongside 2019 participants to deliver all 3,500 commitments by the end of June 2020
• We will double participation this year to 5,000 participants with 7,000 new activities to deliver. Across all industries, involving organisations of all sizes, and crossing international borders
• The Purple Tuesday 365 Club will acknowledge and differentiate to disabled customers those organisations who have delivered their commitments vs. those who have simply made them
• Purple will provide a range of packages to proactively support organisations to design and deliver their commitments as part of their wider disability inclusion activities. With funding always tight we can help you to invest in targeted areas for measurable results

You will be seeing a lot less blogs from me as participants tell their stories about the impact their actions have made to their customers and staff.

I am delighted Kathryn Knowles, MD of Cura, is our first guest blogger in early February. I have read her blog which will inspire the art of what is definitely possible.

I will let you know how the phone saga ends. Come on Samsung, please (or ‘lese’ as my Blackberry would say!) don’t let me down.

Mike Adams, OBE
Purple CEO
28 January 2020