A search has been launched to recruit young disability champions to improve access at Ceredigion tourism and hospitality venues.

The campaign is being led by PIWS, a community interest company that is looking for disabled people to become access ambassadors.

The ambassadors will assess facilities and suggest ways to make them more accessible and inclusive.

This initiative is aimed at tapping into the £274 billion "purple pound" – the combined spending power of UK households with at least one disabled person.

PIWS founder, Davina Carey-Evans, who has personal experience of disability within her family, is spearheading the drive.

As part of the scheme, young people aged between 16 and 24 will be paid to review venues across Wales.

The aim is to provide feedback on their experiences so attractions and other venues can be supported to understand the challenges of families – including those with hidden disabilities – so they can make reasonable adjustments to accommodate them.

Mrs Carey-Evans said: "We hear a lot about the power of the LGBTQ+ community’s pink pound but the purple pound is also very valuable and in accessible tourism across the UK it is estimated to have a potential worth of £15.5 billion a year.

"Gearing up your business to be user-friendly for the disabled isn’t just the right thing to do, it makes commercial sense too and it needn’t cost the earth either."

She emphasised that accessibility is not just about wheelchair access, as people in wheelchairs make up just nine per cent of the UK’s registered disabled.

Mrs Carey-Evans added: "There is a need for quiet safe spaces because sometimes the excitement of visiting somewhere new can be overwhelming for some impairments and an empty corner with seating can be ideal for them to chill out if they’re becoming over stimulated or anxious."

PIWS also offers an hour-long Introduction to Accessibility Awareness workshop for all staff at an attraction and businesses are encouraged to appoint their own accessibility champion.

Mrs Carey-Evans said: "Anyone living with a disability should get involved with reporting back on their experiences, the more we work together, the quicker we will see change."

Helping to recruit the new ambassadors and playing an ambassadorial role herself is Manon Wyn Jones, from Carmel, near Caernarfon, whose two-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Nansi, was born with spina bifida.

Ms Wyn Jones, who had to quit her job to look after Nansi, is now working for PIWS in marketing and support.

She said: "We have to plan everywhere we go and everything we do.

"Nansi is unable to walk or stand unaided and her catheter bag has to be emptied every two and a half hours.

"We have been to places without proper changing rooms which has meant having to do catheter changes in the boot of the car.

"I realise just how important the work being done by PIWS is.

"Organising a family day out can be quite stressful, websites are not always clear and you really have to do your homework before setting out so the work that PIWS is doing will make such a difference – before that it wasn’t that simple."

For more information about PIWS, visit the website.