FSM
Accessibility
Breaking Barriers:
Accessible Formats In Stadium Management In the realm of stadium facilities management, accessibility for spectators, staff, and players is an area of
increasing focus that aims to ensure equitable access for all. While modern stadiums are designed to facilitate physical access, disability is diverse, encompassing a range of needs.
Accessibility consultancy Direct Access demonstrated a range of access tools this March at an accessibility event at Chelsea’s Stamford
Bridge stadium. Craig Acton, Head Coach for
Nantwich Town Disability Football was on hand to demonstrate the range of large print materials, Braille formats, and audio descriptions, ensuring that every fan, regardless of their visual or auditory abilities, can fully engage with matches.
These include: • Braille – transcribing documents or text into Braille for match day or event programmes.
• Accessible menus – designed for neurodiverse, visually impaired or dyslexic customers, large print and Braille menus allow onsite F&B outlets to provide vital information about food and drink products in a simplified, accessible format removing the requirement for a family member or member of staff to read out the selection.
• Tactile map boards - providing wayfinding information in tactile, pictorial and Braille formats with QR links to audio description and sign language videos, these enable people to navigate around with ease.
Their dedicated recording studios and tactile production facilities are stationed within an Accessible Media and Innovation Centre, managed by a team of disabled people with a mission to empower other disabled people through equity of information. As of 2024, the NHS reports that approximately two million people in the UK are affected by sight loss, which equates to one in 34 individuals overall. Of this number, around 340,000 are officially registered as blind or partially sighted. When we consider how many of which are likely to be sports fans, offering accessible media such as menus, seasonal guides, and newsletters in accessible formats makes sense.
Furthermore, there is a growing use of innovative accessible technologies - such as the Give Vision headset, a piece of tech that is helping its users with far-sightedness. Serving a similar function as a cochlear implant but for visual acuity instead of hearing, the device made the news recently for allowing a long-time Crystal Palace fan with deteriorated vision to watch football games from a distance by stimulating some of the photoreceptor cells in his eye’s retina (the device requires some use of vision to work, again, like a cochlear implant for hearing). The fan in question, said that without it, he would otherwise have to stay home and just listen to games on the radio.
While some of these solutions can be expensive in the short term, such as VR headsets – many of the technological solutions to accessibility issues within built environments (like stadiums and football grounds) can be easily rectified and require less extravagant solutions. For instance, providing a good amount of pre-visit information so that disabled people can anticipate their experience on your site can also demonstrate your willingness to accommodate their needs. You can do this through your website and social media channels (while ensuring that alt text is provided, and hash tags are written in camel case) and by providing an accessibility and sensory guide.
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