Advance Inclusion in your workplace
Lead the way to create inclusive workplaces with expert support, tailored resources, and a vibrant member community. Inclusive Employers membership gives you the tools and insights to advance inclusion and make a lasting impact.
Building accessibility into places of work, services and leisure facilities and has become the norm, which is a great step forward. At least, that’s what I’d thought until I became the parent of a child with disabilities. Now when service providers say they are accessible, I need to ask, ‘accessible for who?’
Thinking accessibility all the way through
Seeing automatic doors, ramps, lifts and hearing loops are commonplace today, yet the experience of engaging with service providers can be less inclusive that you may think. My 12-year-old son Ethan has a rare genetic condition, giving rise to a range of support needs. Although not an exact comparison, for ease, it’s helpful to think of a boisterous three to six-month-old in the body of a 12-year-old boy.
We enjoy family days out, which often includes an activity and lunch. Recently we visited a museum with tactile exhibits Ethan enjoys and went for lunch at a big chain restaurant. Whilst the restaurant’s main floor was at ground level, the door system included a hallway and two doors. Only the outside door had an automatic function – so once we opened the outside door and moved inside, there was no way to get around Ethan’s wheelchair to open the second door. The only way to resolve this was to wave our arms in the air and catch the attention of staff to come and help – which of course draws the attention of many diners, less than ideal.
For another day out we found a facility that catered for children with disabilities. Very excited to find a new option for a day out, we packed up the car and headed out. While there was a great range of activities, children either needed to be ambulant (able to move around without help), or be a wheelchair user but with near normal cognitive function – for example be able to take part in a cooking lesson at a lowered table with little support. And while this is an award-winning establishment for their provision, they didn’t have facilities for Ethan’s personal care needs. Only a standard disabled toilet, meaning we couldn’t refresh his incontinence pad while visiting.
Booking holidays can be equally challenging. One year we booked a fully adapted cottage. While the wet room shower was great, the cottage had a lowered kitchen, and adapted master bedroom – assuming that the accessibility need was for an adult wheelchair user. The reality was two non-wheelchair using adults with very sore backs from leaning down to use the kitchen for a week. We also had to move furniture out of the smaller bedroom for Ethan’s safety.
These are three of hundreds of examples I can give from the last decade. While the world may look inclusive of those requiring physical adaptions, the reality is that accessibility is provided in a very narrow sense. In my experience, this is often for adult wheelchair users. When children’s accessibility needs are considered, my experience is that this is most commonly for those with sensory differences. I cheer on these adaptions as they are vital for many, yet the accessibility efforts most provide leave many, like our family, excluded.
At Inclusive Employers, we help organisations bridge the gap – moving beyond tick-box accessibility to create environments, services, and experiences that genuinely welcome diverse users.
Learn more about how your organisation can become more accessible
What can organisations to do broaden their accessibility efforts?
Start with the basics – understand what adaptions will have the biggest impact for the largest group (yes, I know that might sound counter intuitive to my points in the blog – but keep reading!). Our efforts should seek to be inclusive for the broadest group, so we need to start with the larger numbers.
Engage early – the most expensive adaptions are the ones made without getting input from users. When building a new facility or planning adaptions, engage people who will use it early – you may find with some tweaks to the plan, the budget you have can be used to create an inclusive environment for many more people.
Engage broadly – this is the bit that can be forgotten, yet it can deliver the biggest benefits to those most often excluded. Colleague networks can be wonderful sources of information, as can colleagues or service users more broadly. Given 1 in 7 employees will become carers at some point in their working lives (Carers UK), you might be surprised how much useful information you have quick access to. Often there are low-cost things you can do that significantly improve the experience for some groups. For us, small things like having a solid bench rather than a fold down baby changing table makes a big difference.
Want to make your office building more inclusive?
Inclusive Employers Members can speak to their account manager for advice.
Explore our Accessibility and inclusion office audit.
Inclusive Employers members can also download the Disability guide for more information about accessibility and supporting disabled colleagues. If you are not an Inclusive Employers member, see what other benefits your organisation could enjoy by making us your inclusion and diversity partner.