A pack of online resources has been published to help businesses and organisations be proactive with how they incorporate disability inclusion policies.
The pack, which has been published by the Business Disability Forum, was sponsored by their long time partner Lloyds Banking Group and aims to be a starting point to help businesses create more disability-friendly practices and policies.
The advice is split into six different sections, including its point-of-entry Getting Started section which introduces the aims and intentions of the toolkit.
This includes sections on the importance of inclusivity, defining both visible and invisible disabilities, recruitment and retention, ensuring disabled customers feel welcome and practices that ensure an accessible environment for all, such as mobility showers, lifts and power-assisted doors.
The website has been published with three different high contrast modes to help improve accessibility and in keeping with the premise of the toolkit.
The introduction itself is made up of a foreword by Lloyds Banking Group, an organisation that, according to Commercial Banking CEO David Oldfield, has benefitted greatly from similar advice in the past when creating their own policies.
The CEO of Business Disability Forum, as well, emphasises that in many cases organisations have the best intentions to ensure their places of business are accessible and welcoming but do not know where to start and what to prioritise.
The introduction begins with case studies and basic information a business needs to start the journey of being more inclusive, including admitting to areas that need improvement.
The first section provides the three main reasons to prioritise inclusivity. Besides the clear moral reasoning that it is the right thing to do, the toolkit also provides a strong business case and reminds businesses of their legal responsibilities.
After this is a section that defines disability and emphasises how disabilities are often not readily apparent. It also includes tips and ideas to discuss disability in the workplace and how to discuss how to accommodate all customers and all employees.
Following this is two sections on creating a culture of inclusivity from both the perspective of ensuring colleagues and employees are included, as well as ensuring that all customers are made to feel welcome and valued.
The former includes practical advice on each step of the employee journey, from creating a barrier-free recruitment process that attracts the best candidates, how to help someone with a disability, the Access to Work scheme and how to ensure career development.
As for the latter section, it focuses on the tenants of effective, positive and progressive customer service, and how to provide accessible service to everyone by putting their needs first.
The final section explores the importance of ensuring that services and locations are accessible and includes advice on how businesses can make their workplaces more accessible to both employees and customers, from the entrances onwards.
As well as this, given the importance of digital services to many businesses, there is a sub-section that is dedicated to making websites more accessible, such as through the use of high-contrast and dyslexia-friendly fonts, as well as ensuring communications and marketing materials are also included.
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16 June,2021
