Businesses have the chance to make themselves more accessible to customers with a disability through a series of workshops.

Dr Leighanne Higgins and Dr Killian O’Leary, of the Department of Marketing in Lancaster University Management School (LUMS) are running free and personalised accessibility workshops with companies to help them identify areas for improvement and develop short-, medium- and long-term accessible goals.

The workshops will build on the art project The Marketplace and I. The project saw people with a disability create artworks exploring their experiences in the commercial environment – from shops and services to theme parks. The artworks have featured in the Edinburgh Fringe, as well as at events across the Lancaster area in the last three years.

“Our work explores accessibility barriers in commercial settings for people with disabilities,” said Dr Higgins. “The Marketplace and I provides the perfect platform for us to explore how companies can improve their accessibility, benefitting not only disabled customers, but their families and loved ones also.

“If you want to work better with people with a disability, but are unsure where to start, then this is the perfect opportunity. The workshops will allow you to work on developing a strong and robust accessibility strategy and will help inform our research by highlighting the issues and concerns companies have around accessibility.”

The workshops can be delivered in-person or online and can be adapted to cater to specific accessibility concerns companies are dealing with.

Options available to business taking part include:

• Accessible Training: Offering innovative, art-based accessibility training sessions with employees.
• Accessible Audits: Outlining and advising on areas across company premises where changes can be made to easily and cost-effectively improve accessibility.
• Accessible Planning: Help with building/revising accessible plans.
• Accessible Information: Offering advice and support with how best to communicate accessible information and services to customers.

Any businesses or business groups interested in being involved in an accessibility workshop can contact Dr Leighanne Higgins via email to l.higgins@lancaster.ac.uk or Dr Killian O’Leary via email to k.oleary1@lancaster.ac.uk

For more information on The Marketplace and I, visit www.lancaster.ac.uk/marketplace-and-i/