Guidelines

Application Areas

In many countries making tourism services accessible to people with disabilities is not just desirable but required to comply with legislation. Many of the facilities needed by disabled visitors are useful for non-disabled people eg ramps can be beneficial for those with pushchairs.

Planning and Booking

For a disabled visitor the first hurdle is to find what is available that is appropriate to their needs. In their literature or on their website, many tourist venues limit accessibility information to saying "wheelchair accessible" or "visitors' guide available in alternative formats". Unfortunately this may result in a disabled visitor arriving at the venue and finding that "wheelchair accessible" does not mean that their electric wheelchair can enter the toilet, or that "alternative format" includes a format they can read.

Ideally all literature should be available in a range of alternative formats including large print, braille, audio tape and electronic text. Systems should be put in place to ensure that the alternative format versions are updated at the same time as the ordinary format. Potential visitors should have a single telephone number to ring to request the prompt dispatch of literature in alternative formats; a delay of a week is unlikely to be acceptable to the potential visitor.

The web offers possibilities of providing up-to-date information that can be read by as many people as possible. However, it is essential that the website has been designed from the outset with accessibility in mind.

Getting There

Public transport needs to be accessible as far as is reasonably possible since not everybody has access to private transport. Also aspects like signage need to be carefully considered so that it is consistent as well as being legible at the distance visitors will be trying to read it. Consistency is even more important if textured surfaces are used to guide visually impaired visitors.

The number of designated car parking spaces for disabled drivers needs to be considered along with the width of the space and the distance of the space from the accommodation or attraction entrance.

Staff Training

Training front line staff to recognise and offering appropriately help to visitors with disabilities is essential. Recognising that a person has special needs is not obvious in many cases eg partial sight, a hearing impairment or a cognitive impairment. Then responding appropriately, using acceptable terminology, is not something that can be left to staff using their common sense.

Ticketing Systems

Buying a ticket from a self-service terminal can be confusing for the naïve user. Equally queuing systems can be problematic for some disabled users if their needs have not been considered when the system was specified.

Information about Exhibits

Exhibits should be labelled using an appropriate typeface and a size that is easily readable at the distance the visitor will be from the label. There are a variety of labelling systems for non-visually marking items.

Audio guides can provide blind and partially sighted visitors with a structured audio commentary; the same technology can be used to provide information for foreign visitors in their native language. One problem is that not all visitors will go round the exhibits in the same order, so a numbering system may be essential. Often it is preferable to just provide a brief description, but give the user the option of requesting a more detailed description.

There are a variety of more sophisticated orientation systems using technologies such as infra-red or RFID to help guide blind visitors round a museum or environment.

Tactile Maps

A tactile map can provide useful information to a blind visitor that is not easily conveyed by words alone. However, many congenitally blind people have little experience or understanding of graphical representations, so it may not be a complete answer.

Accommodation

For overnight accommodation, the visitor needs to be able to check-in as well as find the way to and from their room. It may be useful to provide simple hand magnifiers and handwriting aids at the reception desk. In the room the use of appropriate colour schemes will help many partially sighted visitors. Alarm clocks with vibratory output will help deaf visitors and with speech output will help blind people. Ideally, telephones should incorporate the appropriate features needed by disabled visitors.

Lighting

For partially sighted people and many older people, the provision of good lighting is essential. With a typical 60 year old only one third as much reaches their retina compared to when they were 20; for someone with partial sight this may be significantly worse. It is not just a matter of increasing the level of illumination, but providing that illumination at the right place without causing glare. In residential accommodation appropriate reading lamps are beneficial.

Lifts

All too often lifts are of an inadequate size to accommodate a wheelchair user, including room for the footrest, as well as the people travelling with the disabled person. Also the controls need to be in a consistent location and be operable by blind and partially sighted visitors.

When a ramp is provided consideration should be given to its gradient and length. The height of steps should also be considered. Handrails should be provided for steps and ramps wherever possible. The top and bottom of stairways and ramps, and the edge of individual steps, should be clearly marked with a contrasting colour.

Alarms and Emergency Exits

Disabled visitors have equal need as other visitors to be able to locate and use emergency exits. Ideally deaf users should be provided with a vibratory pager to indicate that there is an alarm activated to which they are expected to respond. The audible frequency of an alarm determines the ease with which a person can locate the source of the sound; textured surfaces can also be used to supplement the guidance to emergency exits for blind visitors.

Further Information

Europe:

Rest of the world:

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