5 Ideas to Make Your Small Business More Accessible

As a small business owner, you may want to make your business more accessible but not know where to start. In the RBC webinar “Accessibility Ideas for Your Business,” Matthew Shaw, technical lead for The Rick Hansen Foundation’s (RHF) accessibility certification program, spoke about making inclusive changes. Here are five ideas.

1. Start with a mindset of understanding

Before implementing practical improvements to your business, consider how persons with disabilities would experience the environment. How would someone using a mobility aid navigate the physical space? Would a customer with a vision-related disability be able to see and read your signage or use your website? Recognize that customers of all experiences should be able to fully participate and engage, whether getting into the building, shopping online, or navigating customer service.

2. See accessibility as a business opportunity

Across the world, 1.3 billion people live with disabilities. In Canada, about one in four people has a disability. This group of consumers often reports a lack of customer satisfaction. Accessibility should be understood as an opportunity, not a burden. It’s a way to attract and better serve customers, allowing you to optimize your business.

3. Know that customers shop based on accessibility

The experience and environment of a business influence whether consumers want to spend time (and money) there. This includes whether it’s an accessible space, from restaurants to theme parks. Knowing a restroom is down a flight of stairs in the basement may be the reason a customer goes elsewhere, just as knowing staff will be inclusive and non-judgmental toward customers with cognitive or behavioural disabilities might be the reason they come back.

4. Make small, manageable changes to begin

Small business owners may worry they don’t have the funds or permission to overhaul an entire space. Small decisions can make a big impact. Focus on one problem at a time. This might include adding a ramp to the business entrance, making items on shelves more reachable, ensuring menus are readable for guests with vision-related disabilities, or ensuring staff knows accessibility laws. Think about the human experience, not just essential code compliance.

5. Register for RHF’s training and accreditation program

RHF’s accessibility certification program is the only building certification program that evaluates the performance of built infrastructure for people with disabilities. A designated sector professional from RHF will visit your business and assess how someone with a disability would experience the space, products and service. You’ll then be offered strategies and tools to make short and long-term improvements at your business, whether you own or rent. So far, more than 1200 buildings across Canada have been assessed by the program.

The Rick Hansen Foundation (RHF) is a registered Canadian charity working to eliminate physical and attitudinal barriers for persons with disabilities. The relationship between RHF and RBC goes back to 1985 when RBC sponsored Hansen’s “Man in Motion World Tour,” a 26-month, 34-country, 40,000-kilometre wheelchair trip that raised $26 million. (Hansen founded the charity after becoming disabled in a car accident.) The RBC Foundation recently committed a $1.25 million donation to RHF to help create more equitable prosperity in communities.

Watch RBC’s “Accessibility Ideas For Your Business” webinar for more information about making your business accessible.

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