Disability, Customer Service and Developing an Access Culture

Accessible ArtsFestivals Forum

Tuesday, 19 July 2011

Associate Professor Simon DarcyUTS Business School

University of Technology, Sydneysimon.darcy@uts.edu.au

Our vision is a society in which people with disabilities can contribute to and fully experience the arts and cultural life.

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Overview

1. Definition of Access for Festivals 2. Access market potential3. Business case4. Market dynamics5. Cool accessible festival experiences6. Developing an access culture7. Concluding comments

Based onBuhalis, D., & Darcy, S. (Eds.). (2011). Accessible Tourism: Concepts and

Issues. Bristol, UK: Channel View Publications.http://www.multilingual-matters.com/display.asp?k=9781845411602

1. Definition of Access for Festivals

...is a collaborative process between stakeholders that enables people with disability, including mobility, vision, hearing and cognitive dimensions, to function independently and with equity and dignity through the delivery of universally designed products, services and environments.

This definition adopts a whole of life approach where people through their lifespan benefit from access provisions.

These include people with permanent and temporary disabilities, seniors, obese, families with young children and those working in safer and more socially sustainably designed environments (adapted Darcy & Buhalis 2011, p10-11).

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Dimensions of Access• Mobility

– Ramps, lifts, circulation space, accessible unisex toilets, automatic doors, table heights, operational dexterity

• Vision– Tactile tiles, visual contrast, audible signals (lifts/street

crossings), braille, large print, assistance animal respite areas, audio described, mp3

• Hearing– Visual signals, Auslan Sign interpreters, captioning or Tele

text, telephone typewriters, preprepared written material

• Cognition/learning– Plain English material, iconic signage, time, speed of

communication, environmental stimulus, alternative modes

• Others

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2. Access Market Potential

Domestic Demand• Australia = 4.0m

• New Zealand = 0.7m

Overseas Tourism• Europe = 127m

• China = 62m• USA = 60m • India = 47m

• Great Britian = 9m• Canada = 4m

•Group Dynamics = 2.8/day trip = 3.4/domestic

Economic Studies

Overseas• Europe €80bn• German €3bn• USA $14bn

Australia• Day Trips $1.5bn• Overnight $4.8bn• Inbound $1.4bn• To the Australian

economy each year.

(Dwyer & Darcy 2011).

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3. Business Case for Access Markets

• Global Trends• Ageing of the population • Baby boomers• Increased opportunities• Human rights declarations• Community expectations • Lifelong learning • CSR – Social sustainability

• Part of all markets• A specific/niche market• New products - innovation• Non peak periods• Segregated Universal• Flexible/integrated space• Group size• Networks and collaborations • Destination competitivness

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4.

Lifecycle Groups

11Source: Darcy 2011 based on NVS 2010

Activities

12Source: NVS 2010

5. Quality Accessible Festival Experiences

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Festival Experiences

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Summit Mt. Kosciusko

6. Developing an Access Culture

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Customer Feedback Loop

Access Market Use Circle

Darcy, S. (2011). Developing Sustainable Approaches to Accessible Accommodation Information Provision: A Foundation for Strategic Knowledge Management. Tourism Recreation Research, 36(2), 141-157.

Planning an Accessible Festival

• Language, information and promotion– Dignity– Registration forms– Information– Marketing– Publicity

• Venue– Access/Toilets– Communication– Volunteers/Attendants

• Transport– Parking– Public Transport– Special Purpose

• Responsibility?– Who? At what level? Resources?

• Accommodation– Access– Proximity to Venue – Variety of classes

• Social Calendar– After hours information

and/or program– Restaurants/side trips– Transport and Attendants

• Support Services– Medical– Catering - special diets– Tty/Signers

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Iconography

Source: www.health.state.ny.us/ nysdoh/promo/events.htm

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Managing Expectation

• All organisations have access warts!

• Strategic approach…Disability Action Plans

• Expectation = experience • Expectation ≠ experience • Information provision

• Customer service culture

• Organisational communication and commitment

Best practice examples

• The Access All Areas Film Festivals use the iconography to clearly convey their message together with a phone number/website address

• http://www.accessallareasfilmfestival.com.au/archive.html

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• … Preplanning, registering and having close off dates for access makes managing resources possible together with creating organisational responsibility for delivering what it is said that you were going to deliver…

• In this case, at Glastonbury Festival camping and positional access for key performances

• http://www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/information/disabled-info/

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• Melbourne comedy Festival had a different approach with respect to get access where they said pre-register for shows and we will provide Auslan interpreters

• http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2011/season/shows/deaf-access/

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7. Conclusion• All people have constraints

• People with disabilities and others have access requirements

• All people have a right to attend festivals in whatever role they choose to involve themselves

• Don’t constrain people’s experiences by what you think their abilities are

• Empower people to experience

• Organisational responses need to address this issue from both the human rights and economic case

• Equality of experience

• “Sense of festival” 25

Companion Card

• Promoting the rights of people with disability, who require a companion, to fair ticketing at events and venues

• 4500 Cardholders in NSW since March 2009http://www.nds.org.au/nsw/companioncard.htm

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Contact

Dr Simon Darcy

UTS Business School

University of Technology, Sydney

02 9514-5100

simon.darcy@uts.edu.au

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