Purple Tuesday: A new perception of disability

The following article was written by Bascule Disability Training's Managing Director- Chris Jay- for MyCustomer.com 

Over recent years, a vast number of companies have introduced strategies to embrace equity, diversity, and inclusion. However, evidence has shown that many of these strategies overlook the importance of disability, placing greater focus on race/ethnicity, gender and sexuality, and pushing disability down lower on the list of company priorities.

When you consider that people with disabilities are the largest minority group on the planet – representing nearly one in every four of your customers – it begs the question, why?

After all, the rewards for meeting the needs of this group are quite substantial, with an estimated spending power of around £274 billion per year in the UK alone. Furthermore, people with other protected characteristics can join this group at any time, with 2% of the working-age population acquiring a disability every year.

Of course, it goes without saying that appealing to this market and successfully providing an accessible service involves significant change.

It requires alterations to customer-based environments such as retail outlets; it demands consideration around things like web design, technology, and accessible materials; but most of all, it requires staff to have a good awareness of disability. Without that, all other efforts are futile.

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