Feature FSM
sibility: iums more Disabled-Friendly
• Help those with hearing loss – make sure all information announced over stadium loudspeakers is also clearly visible on screens throughout the venue and have at least one sign language interpreter on site.
Invest in staff training
Once the above changes have been made, it is equally important to ensure staff are trained to understand disabled fans’ needs and make people’s match day experiences are as seamless and enjoyable as possible. One way of doing this is by holding compulsory staff training sessions outlining what vocabulary staff should use when talking to those with disabilities and ways employees can be more inclusive of those fans.
Accessibility does not stop at the stadium
help stadiums become more accessibility- friendly: • Become wheelchair friendly – ensure there is wheelchair access throughout the stadium, ample reserved seating and disabled toilets designed with the user in mind – for example, with sufficient space and assistant handles.
• Provide services for fans with cognitive impairments – create quiet zones, implement a lanyard scheme so staff can identify those who may need additional support and allow individuals to jump queues upon entering a stadium.
• Adapt for the blind – provide braille signs, audio description services for real- time match commentating, be guide dog friendly and have trained staff on-hand to guide passengers through the stadium if needed.
As well as ensuring physical modifications are made, it is also crucial that a stadium’s website is accessibility-friendly. Crucially, this needs to be more than just a
box-ticking exercise to meet the accessibility standards outlined by the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. Instead, a deep understanding around various people’s needs and requirements needs to be established. This can be achieved by inviting users with ranging abilities to take part in usability sessions throughout the site’s design process. This will also help assess how effective certain features are and highlight areas that need to be improved. It is also worth noting that any accessibility
design features should not simply be copy and pasted over previously excluding design. This will never be as effective as tailored coding and will suggest accessibility is an afterthought as opposed to a necessary element of design. Here are a few simple features that should
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be included to ensure full web accessibility: • Text size – make sure this is adjustable • Visual effects – make these optional by allowing users to turn them on and off where required
• Links – make clickable links larger than surrounding text
• Video accessibility – ensure videos are closed-captioned or there is a sign language version available
2019 and beyond
With the New Year upon us, now is the perfect time to take a fresh approach to accessibility. Attempting to mould existing systems to fit disabled-friendly models will simply not be enough. Instead, stadiums need to totally rewrite their approach to accessibility with the above modifications to hand and essentially start from scratch. Aside from the obvious moral obligation
of making stadiums accessible to all, putting these changes into action also stands to benefit the clubs themselves. Stadiums will be able to capitalise on the increasingly valuable purple pound, increase fan trust and loyalty, as well as portray a more than favourable public image. It is about time disabled access stopped
being perceived as an optional venture and instead, as a necessity for stadiums across the country.
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