How To Make Your Business Premises More Accessible

Every year, the number of people living with disabilities dramatically increases and as a business, it is your legal but moral responsibility to ensure your premises are fully accessible to people with disabilities and accessibility needs. Over a quarter of Americans currently have some type of disability, around 61 million people of all ages across the United States.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires businesses to make suitable changes to their premises and business to ensure people with low mobility are catered for. Making at least some changes to accessibility throughout your building will allow customers and employees alike who have reduced mobility issues to move around the building safely and freely.

Structural and Interior Alterations to Premises

A safe, secure, and regularly inspected lift system is one of the most crucial differences that will transform your building into an accessible one. You must ensure your lift is large and sturdy enough to carry, ideally multiple wheelchairs and prams. In addition, the emergency buttons inside the lift must be located far enough down that everyone can reach them, and the door closing mechanism must be on a timed delay to enable people with reduced mobility enough time to enter safely. 

An accessible toilet is another vital addition, and inside the bathroom, there must also grab rails near the toilet itself, a lower than usual sink and countertop and enough space in the room so the wheelchair user can easily rotate comfortably safely. 

Heavy-duty doors are often a big problem for people with reduced mobility, and a much more sensible option is to replace the main doors with automatic sliding ones instead. Handicap automatic doors will greatly assist people who do not possess the strength or the capability to open them manually. You must check that your premises offer more than a few disabled car parking spaces, regardless of the size of the car park.

Non-Physical Changes to Your Premises

Business accessibility is not just confined to the physical aspects of your premises. It is your duty to train your employees to consciously keep an eye out for people with low mobility and always m where required. An often-overlooked aspect of businesses in terms of accessibility is how easy it is to operate the official website, and it is certainly worthwhile spending significant time building and transforming your website and associated social media accounts.

You should ensure all your printed material, from leaflets to how-to guides and information books should be printed in braille and other accessibility-friendly reading material. In addition, you should train employees in sign language and inform them they should be prepared to read information out loud to customers who are blind or have a lower visual capacity.

A reputable and ethical business always ensures their building and online presence is all as easy to use and accessibility friendly as possible. Good access makes complete business sense as the more people who can access the company, the more revenue they will get.