Tamworth welcomes new disability services to help improve accessibility and inclusion in the city

Disability service Brighter Access is set to open a new hub space to offer people living with disabilities a place to enjoy a variety of activities and make meaningful friendships.

Brighter Access operations manager Charmaine Alley said she had constantly received feedback from the community about the need for more services and access in the city.

"Parents have had to leave the workforce because there's no suitable after school care for their young people," she said.

"We're taking an opportunity to hear what they say and put it into practice."

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Located at 10/1A Wirraway Street, the hub space will offer after school care, social activities on a Friday and Saturday night and special sessions, such as wellness and mindfulness days.

Ms Alley said the team was hoping to work with local organisations and businesses to help run sessions and work towards removing barriers for people with disabilities in Tamworth.

"We really want to look at inclusion and how we can utilise our local community," Ms Alley said.

"We're calling out to anyone who wants to work in partnership with us to really build that inclusive community, so people aren't just relied on paid support."

Hoping to fill the gap of outside of school support for kids with disabilities, Jack Cheeseman, founder of Wattle Blue Disability Services, is expanding his Canberra-based business to Tamworth.

Mr Cheeseman said he was hoping to work with young, passionate and enthusiastic local support workers to help children and young adults thrive in the community and offer respite to parents.

"It's for the kids to have a different environment, to go out and have an extra communication line with a support worker that they trust, get along with and look up to," Mr Cheeseman said.

The service will also focus on spreading awareness about the benefits of being a support worker, to encourage more people into the field.

"It can be a very stigmatised job, it can be a tough job, but it's also an extremely rewarding job," Mr Cheeseman said.

"Seeing the kids improve and getting them to kick their goals is amazing."

The new support services come as Tamworth Regional Council is in the final stages of initial consultation to develop a draft version of the new Disability Inclusion Action Plan.

The plan will be designed to help Tamworth develop positive community attitudes and behaviours, support access to meaningful employment and services, and create liveable communities.

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