Eateries are losing money by not catering for the 3.4 million Brits with dexterity issues, according to an inventor and equality campaigner.
Grant Douglas, who was born with cerebral palsy, claims restaurant businesses are deterring disabled people from eating out by failing to provide specially adapted cutlery or utensils.
Douglas, who invented the “S’up Spoon” in 2014, said restaurants are “losing millions” by failing to help people with limited dexterity feel more comfortable eating in public.
He said: “Anyone with limited dexterity will tell you the difficulty of eating things like rice, soup or cereal can put you off eating in public yet our restaurants continue to ignore this massive market.
“By my calculations the figure could be in the region of £500m a year.”
Quoting a Department of Work and Pensions study, Douglas said 86% of the UK’s top 57 restaurant chains fail to provide any information on their websites about accessibility at their venues.
And nearly half (45%) of restaurant staff have not been given any disability awareness training, according to the same study.
