Dr. Gregory Burke

Entrepreneur, business leader and barrister.
AccessAble and 7BR chambers

Award category:

Business and Finance

As a student, Gregory set out to understand and tackle the barriers facing disabled people. He embarked on a self-funded research initiative that saw him travel throughout the UK to listen to 100+ disability groups.

The key findings were that disabled people were excluded from society by 1) an institutional misunderstanding of disability; and 2) a lack of relevant and sufficiently detailed access information.

In response, he founded AccessAble in 2000, aged 26. The aim – for www.accessable.co.uk to become the trusted source of accessibility information to places and spaces throughout the UK and beyond.

With no business experience or formal financial backing, Gregory built his skills and knowledge ‘on the job’. His ability to inspire drew people to work and build a career alongside him.

Through the start-up years, austerity and pandemic, Gregory has always ensured all information is compiled by an AccessAble surveyor and the service is free and anonymous for everyone.

Approaching its 25th year, AccessAble provides information to 70,000 places and spaces. 6 million disabled people used AccessAble in the last year alone. He employs 100 people.

Inherently entrepreneurial, Gregory sees the global challenge. In the last year he has grown AccessAble’s impact further:

• A landmark partnership with TUI to create surveyor-assessed Detailed Access Guides to 400+ hotels and resorts across the world; something AccessAble’s user-community has been passionate to see.

• Serving nearly 100% of the UK university market, Gregory has engaged universities across the USA and secured a contract with Princeton University; the first in the USA to have Detailed Access Guides.

In the UK, Gregory recognised the ‘postcode lottery’ facing disabled people having quality accessibility information. In response, he invested in a significant software development project to launch the ‘Your Accessibility Guide’ portal in March. This offers an easy way for SMEs to have a quality assured Detailed Access Guide at an affordable price. This innovative approach is endorsed and promoted by VisitEngland and VisitScotland as their preferred route for tourism businesses.

Gregory also practices as a barrister from 7BR chambers, London; peer-recognised as leading in his field of employment and equality law.

It’s a honour to included in the Disability Power 2024 and also a responsibility: to continue to work with others to wedge open the door for disabled people to both enjoy and contribute to society from a position of strength.

Q&A

Dr. Gregory Burke
Think big but don’t let dreams become your master. A journey is made up of a series of hundreds of steps. Think about what you need to achieve in order to meet your goals and then how you will achieve them. Seldom does success come overnight. But by plotting your interim goals and measuring your progress regularly, adjusting as you go along in the light of experience, you increase your chances. Please don’t substitute career success for how you view yourself. You have an inviolable dignity and incalculable worth as a human being regardless of anything else.
The continual process of listening and learning from – what is now over – 1500 groups of disabled people over the last 24 years has transformed my understanding of disability and the barriers placed in front of many disabled people. I am privileged in being able to explain those barriers and how to remove them to key decision-makers in business, education, regulators and government on a weekly basis. 6 million people use AccessAble every year to plan how they will spend their valuable time. I am so respectful of that user-base and strive to meet and exceed their expectations in our services and innovation. As a barrister, I am privileged too to be working closely with the regulator to widen the participation of disabled people at the Bar.
To continue to serve 6 million a year with trustworthy answers to their accessibility queries. To continue to bring practical solutions to service-providers of all types as to how they can remove the barriers to disabled people’s participation. In particular, in the coming year, I am aiming to remove some of the barriers to disabled people’s access to the job market via a combination of AccessAble’s service and my experience as a barrister of where employers can do better in recruitment practices. I would very much like to help the next generation of entrepreneurs with a disability to found their own businesses and help them avoid at least some of the mistakes I made. As AccessAble approaches its silver jubilee next year, I hope I can start to make an impact here too.
I am very lucky to have a wonderful family and I spend time with them at every opportunity I get.
God’s fingerprints are everywhere where there is goodness, beauty and truth. I am a Christian and my faith brings me great joy (and challenge!).
I’d love a black Labrador. I’d call him Trevelyan, after my favourite historian.
The idea that a person’s worth is tied to what they do. There is an insufficient recognition that each of us is born with an inviolable dignity that places an obligation upon us all to uphold. My obligation is to everyone I see, speak to, speak about, interact with and so is yours.
The barriers are still massive: – education – transport – job market – the majority of the population’s view on what ‘disability’ is and the glass ceilings placed on disabled people’s heads.

Areas of expertise

Accessibility, Business, Cross Sector, Disability Advocacy, Employment, Equality, Law

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