Why Better Accessibility Is Good Business Sense

Canadians with disabilities spend $25 billioneach year, according to the Government ofCanada. By making changes to the accessibilityof your business, you can open the doors tosome four million Canadians looking for yourproducts or services.

Accessibility standards have an impact onproperty owners and business owners alike.Ontario is the only province that hasimplemented accessibility laws, but otherprovinces have expressed an interest in doingso.

Following are a few things you can do to improve the accessibility of your building or

business:

Know Your Responsibilities: Did you know thatin the province of Ontario the property owner isresponsible for the proper functioning ofautomatic doors

Oftentimes, the automatic switch is innocentlyturned off for routine maintenance or other validreasons and accidentally left in the off position.Ensure that your property management companyinstructs your tenants and maintenance crews todouble-check the switch. As a business owner youare permitted to ask if an animal is a service animalbut you are not permitted to ask anything aboutthe handler’s disability. This is often confusing, asthere are a number of legitimate disabilities thatare not clearly visible. Seizure alert animals, forexample, play a vital role in the health and well-being of an individual with epilepsy.

Understand What Accessibility Means: Simply put, accessibility means helping people with disabilities take part in everyday activities. For some people, a trip to the bank is full of barriers to accessibility. Some barriers are physical and visible, while others are not. Knowing how these barriers could affect your business is important.

Identify Barriers to Accessibility:Barriers include attitudinal, informational, communication, technological, organizational, architectural and physical barriers that may not restrict the average person but hamper a person with a disability

Come Up With Alternatives: By taking a closelook at the products and services that will beoffered in your building or business, you canidentify potential barriers and provide suitablealternatives.

If you own a clothing store, for example, withfitting rooms that are not wheelchairaccessible, you may wish to modify your returnpolicy to accommodate people with disabilities.If you are a service-based business, considerhaving large-print brochures or an accessiblewebsite that accommodates popular screenreaders. If you own a building in a provinceother than Ontario that is notaccessible, perhaps you could offer a delivery orcarry-out service

Hire Employees WithDisabilities: Large corporationssuch as DuPont and the RoyalBank of Canada found that

“employees with disabilities are often moreproductive, dependable and loyal than their co-workers without disabilities and that staffretention is 72% higher among persons withdisabilities. That adds up to savings of millions ofdollars every year in hiring and training costs.”

Accessibility standards have an impact onproperty owners and business owners alike, somake sure you improve the accessibility of yourbuilding or business.

Randy Bettwww.BetterGroupRealEstate.ca