In this month’s newsletter, I wanted to discuss the practical steps business owners can take to become more accessible in the new year.
Why does accessibility matter?
If you’re subscribed to this newsletter, you already understand the importance of accessibility, but let’s look at the basics just in case. Despite common belief, accessibility impacts absolutely everyone - not just people with disabilities. For many people, inaccessible physical and online spaces might be a mere inconvenience, but to the disabled community, it’s exclusionary.
Before I go into how you can become more accessible, I want to highlight why it’s so vital to your business success going forward. While I can share statistics like…
there are 14 million disabled people in the UK
the purple pound - the spending power of this community - is estimated at £249bn
This already puts the focus on disabled communities. When, in reality, accessibility is important for everyone. As a business owner, profitability is likely your biggest priority. The fact is that if you fail to be accessible, whether that’s in person or online, you are turning away customers and, ultimately, losing money.
While it’s not just about money for disabled people like myself who require access to spaces as a matter of necessity, rather than just inconvenience, it’s a sad fact that often the financial figures are more persuasive than the real-life experiences of my community and me.
So, with that in mind, let’s talk about a few practical things you can do to become more accessible in the new year.
Improve your website accessibility
Digital accessibility is a hot topic at the moment. With businesses in the US facing huge fines if they fail to comply with website accessibility guidelines, it’s only a matter of time before we start to see the same punitive measures coming into force in the UK.
Even without the worry of fines, your business is losing out if it’s not accessible online. Inaccessible websites cost businesses £412m during the pandemic, so you may already be missing out on customers if your website lacks simple accessibility features.
If you’re not a technically minded person, or you don’t have a web designer on retainer, then the prospect of making your website more accessible might seem intimidating. However, thanks to modern content management systems (CMS) like WordPress, Wix and Squarespace, web accessibility is easier than ever.
Here are some main considerations for updating your website to be more accessible:
Make sure text is legible on all devices: consider colours, fonts and font size. Don’t try to be fancy. Stick with Google Fonts that work across all devices.
Consider the contrast with images and buttons: Got a bright yellow button on a grey background? This isn’t clear enough and might be causing you to lose customers.
Add alt text to all images: All good CMS platforms will allow you to add alt text to an image. A simple, single sentence describing the image will do. This helps for both your SEO and accessibility for website visitors using screenreaders.
Include captions on all videos: many companies invest in video content for the new year, but you may lose viewers without captions. It’s not just deaf people like myself who rely on captions. In fact, around 85 per cent of videos are watched without sound on Facebook.
Not sure where to get started? Book a digital accessibility audit with me and get the new year off to a great start.
Making your premise more accessible
So, now we’ve looked at web accessibility best practices, let’s discuss your premises. With the pandemic still very much a concern, I suspect we will shortly see a reintroduction of social distancing measures, including one-way systems, signage and maybe even a check-in system.
Here’s one poor example I spotted earlier in the year at a big store that should’ve known better…
Earlier in the year, I wrote a blog post specifically about how the retail and hospitality industry can ensure accessibility even while enforcing the necessary social distancing measures.
Whatever type of business you run, if you have bricks-and-mortar premises, then here are some things to think about for accessibility in the coming year:
Make sure all entrances and exits are accessible: if we see a return to one-way systems in shops and cafes, then you must make sure all doorways are both wide enough and have ramps if there are steps. And, if you’re unable to change the building to guarantee this, then include clear signage to allow people using wheelchairs or other assistance aids to be able to exit via the entrance or vice versa.
Print clear and accessible signage: When it comes to wayfinding, social distancing and mask-wearing, then you may choose to have new signage created for your premises. While it’s tempting to be creative with any print media, the most important thing is that your signs are legible. Choose clear fonts with clear colour contrast. If in doubt, use the government issues signage instead.
Make use of visual and audio announcements: If you are yet to invest in a visual fire alarm, then now is the time. Equally, if you use a tannoy to make announcements to staff or customers, then speak clearly and repeat any important messages twice. To save time, you could create a pre-recorded message about your COVID regulations that plays every 15 mins to make sure customers who have missed the signage, or are unable to read it, are still able to access the same information.
Again, if you have no idea where to start or you want to get a clearer picture of how well you’re already doing, then book an accessibility audit with me for the new year, and I’ll come to your premises to help you with this journey.
That’s all from me for 2021. Wishing all my clients and colleagues a wonderful Christmas and New Year and I’ll be back in January with more news and advice surrounding accessibility.
Cheers,
Dean.