3 Reasons to Stop Using Accessibility Ratings

What is five star accessibility? ⭐

How can we create perfect accessibility? 💜

What do we need to be certified accessible? ✅

We’re glad places want to be as accessible as possible. But the truth is that labels, scores, and ratings aren’t always the most helpful for showing customers that you're inclusive. In fact, they can sometimes be actively unhelpful by making assumptions about what facilities a visitor actually needs instead of letting disabled customers decide for themselves.

Here are 3 reasons to skip worrying about labels, and focus on providing detailed accessibility information about inclusive features and facilities instead.

1. Accessibility is subjective

Ranking accessibility or providing a general label assumes accessibility looks the same for everyone, and can be determined objectively.

But the truth is that there’s no such thing as perfect, or five star accessibility - because accessibility is subjective. What is accessible and inclusive to a manual wheelchair user won’t necessarily be the same as for a powered wheelchair user, or a d/Deaf person.

Take glass walls for instance. Glass walls can help d/Deaf people see the space around them, and support visual communication like sign-language, and lip reading. Yet, for Blind or visually impaired people, glass walls can create glare that distorts vision, and are easy to bump into.

Providing detailed information avoids assumptions and lets people decide for themselves what if a space is accessible or not, based on their specific access needs.

2. Accessibility is contextual

Visitors use a space differently depending on why they’re visiting. A generalised “accessible” or “not accessible” label misses the opportunity to let visitors decide if the space works for their specific purpose.

Our Business Engagement Lead, Jennie Berry, shared her experience as a 32-year old manual wheelchair user:

“If I want to grab a quick coffee on my lunch break and I know I am only going to be popping into the cafe for 30 minutes, then I probably won’t need an accessible toilet.

Labelling the cafe as ‘not wheelchair accessible’ because it doesn’t have an accessible toilet onsite means that I would potentially overlook an option that could probably work for me - it just depends on the reason I’m visiting.”

3. Accessibility is personal

Disabled people know their needs best and it’s hard to trust the judgement of someone who doesn’t have the same experiences as you.

What might look like step-free access to a non-wheelchair user could actually be a small bump that a powered wheelchair user might not feel comfortable navigating. Similarly, what might be labeled as a wheelchair accessible bathroom might not be big enough for a larger wheelchair to turn around in, or might only have transfer space on the right-hand side - which won’t work for all customers.

In these cases it’s important to provide more than just a vague accessibility label. At Sociability, we focus on providing detailed photos of a space, so that our users can confirm for themselves if a space will work for their specific access needs.

If you want to learn more about how we can help you provide detailed, and trustworthy accessibility information set up a discovery call!

Creating Inclusion and Peace of Mind

Choosing a location for a date night, family reunion, or coffee catch up can already be stressful. How many people are coming? What is the budget? Will there be something on the menu that everyone will like?

On top of that disabled people have to worry about if a restaurant, bar or cafe labelled “accessible” will actually meet their access needs. Only 39% of disabled consumers feel confident that they're making the right choice when deciding to visit a place.

Providing detailed accessibility information, helps take away some of that stress, and creates disability inclusion, offering reassurance that disabled customers won't be surprised by the facilities when they arrive.

Ready to ditch the accessibility ratings?

By sharing detailed, comprehensive accessibility information rather than vague labels or scores, you can empower disabled people to reclaim the decision-making process, by providing information that allows disabled people to choose for themselves what will work for their access needs.

Sociability’s Accessibility Management Systems take a different approach to accessibility by:

• Providing detailed accessibility information about both the sensory and physical aspects of a space, so that users with different disabilities have the information they need to make a decision.

• Describing features and facilities objectively rather than making assumptions about what is or is not accessible.

• Offering comprehensive photos of the space so that visitors can verify it will work for their needs.

Join industry leaders like Arup and Toyota in setting new standards for accessibility and book a demo to see how Sociability can help achieve your goals!