How accessible is your venue?
For people with disabilities and chronic illnesses that affect their mobility or energy levels, how hard it is to get around site matters. It matters to the rest of us too, when we’re tired, or we twisted an ankle, or we have a lot to carry.
You can help people plan ahead by providing a basic overview of things that make it more work to get around. The tables in the document below are just one way to do that.
Other ways to help
If your venue has a lot of ticks on the left of the evaluation table, some people may find it takes a lot of time and energy to get around your venue, and they don’t have much time and energy to join in on your activities.
Depending on the size of your event, you can help them by providing:
Seats in the central area for anyone to use
Seats on the way to activities or important places outside the central area
Options at the sign in table, the serving area, and the dish washing area so that people don’t have to queue standing up
Activities close to the central area (especially Arts & Sciences activities, because people with mobility and energy issues are more likely to do those)
Trolleys or helpers to make it easier to move things between the car park and the central area
Time between activities for people to move from one area to another
At very large events, a shuttle service between activities that are far apart from each other
If you aren’t sure what people need, but you want to do something to help, you can give them a chance to tell you when they book for your event, or appoint a deputy people can contact to ask for help.
The most important thing you can do is to tell people about your venue in advance. People with disabilities, chronic illnesses, and other accessibility needs are used to making decisions about what they can and can’t do, and how to compensate. When they know what a venue is like before they arrive, they can make plans and organise helpers so that they can enjoy the event as much as possible.
It is best practice to make your information available early (when people are deciding whether to attend), and to make it available as text rather than a picture.