Disability Discrimination Act - Access to Goods and Services for the Disabled

Making Access to Goods and Services Easier for Disabled Customers: A Practical Guide for Small Businesses and Other Service Providers

Meeting the needs of your disabled customers

To some extent you will be able to anticipate what customers with different disabilities may need in order to access your goods and services. It is also a good idea to talk to individual customers about any particular problems getting in and around your premises or finding what they need, and any ideas for how you could improve access to your goods and services. (But remember that what makes goods and services accessible to one disabled customer may not work as well for another disabled customer.)

Think broadly about the wide range of disabilities including:

• sight impairments
• hearing impairments
• physical / mobility impairments
• mental ill health
• learning disabilities.

Disabled customers can benefit from a range of improvements, some of which can be relatively easy to implement, such as a suitably positioned handrail, clearer signs or a well planned, logical layout within premises.

If you currently have few disabled customers, this could simply be a reflection of how difficult access to your premises and goods and services is. So, in addition to your existing customers, give some thought to what improvements you can make for people who may become new customers.