There are regulations across the country that require businesses to provide a certain level of accessibility, but these regulations often fall short. Therefore, every business should make a concerted effort to improve their own practices to help more people access their services. Consider some of these practices your business should follow to be more accessible.
Involve People in the Community
The best thing any business can do is reach out to those they want to help and ask for their assistance in planning changes—no one will know what needs to change better than those who are a part of the community. Your planning stages should involve people with disabilities for advice and strategies to change your business.
Learn About Equipment You Can Invest In
There’s a lot of equipment and tools you can use to improve accessibility around your business. Taking time to educate yourself on different options and what might work best for your business will help guide you in your decision-making. For example, it’s important to understand the different types of wheelchair ramps available when planning a business overhaul.
Train Your Team To Help
One problem many businesses face when serving people with disabilities is a work staff that doesn’t know how to help. Your employee training program should demonstrate how workers can adopt an inclusive approach to help everyone. Additionally, your workers should be familiar with the placement and function of accessibility aids within your physical location—this is a big step to creating a business that is more accessible.
Learn Design Rules for Accessibility
Standard building layout and design often doesn’t take people with disabilities into account, hampering their access. Therefore, it’s imperative to learn the basic rules for turning your place into a business that can accommodate anyone with ease. A great example of this would be wider doors for wheelchair access, along with primarily straight hallways to cut down on turns.
These are just a few methods and strategies your business can use to become more accessible to everyone. The biggest thing to remember is to involve people from the community, as they’ll give you the most accurate advice and help direct you to the best resources.