How attitudes shape accessibility

Today I experienced a perfect example of how attitude is one of the most important aspects of creating and shaping accessibility.

It happened at work. The corridor doors between the lift and my office are too heavy for me to open from the inside. So usually they are held open by electronic door stops (they release to doors when the fire alarms go off) - with a nice big sign on them reminding people to leave them open. Today the door stops had run out of batteries - and so the doors that I needed to be open, were closed.

What usually happens when access-kit fails (in my experience) is that people wait for you to arrive and experience the access fail - then say how sorry they are, and that they can't do anything about it - with an undertone of helplessness and no sense of responsibility to find a solution - or even to communicate effectively about the problem.

But here's what happened with today's door issue:

I arrived in the building.

The receptionist had been keeping an eye out for me - the moment she saw me, she went up to one of the affected doors and held it open - and explained the issue to me, the workaround (opening the door for me was official reception duties til fixed), and the expected timeframe for proper fixing (within a couple of hours).

I went through - and into my office, and started work.

Within about half an hour they'd been fixed.

They did all this off their own bat - without a single comment or request from me, and my ability to access my office was completely unaffected by the failure of the relevant kit.

Key points:

They recognised it would affect my access

They came up with an effective temporary solution (extra door duty for receptionist)

They ensured the underlying issue was sorted ASAP.

This was exceptional to me. What is more usual, is that when something creating accessibility fails, nothing happens. We turn up to use it and are met with 'oh, I forgot about you!' and 'it's broken, there's nothing I can do'. This attitude means that access failure and exclusion is almost always the result - and there is rarely any opportunity to even consider workarounds.

While it might be true that fixing it might depend on other people's / company's work schedules, coming up with a workaround in the meantime is vital. In this case they came up with one without needing my input. Sometimes it might mean calling the disabled person to say "Y has gone wrong. It's going to take X days to fix, we aren't sure how to make it work for you in the meantime - do you have an thoughts?" - This attitude is SO effective at creating access!

True, sometimes the workaround might have to be 'not accessing the thing'. But trust me when I say that being on the recieving end of the following two different access fails are experiences worlds apart:

a) knowing you can't access something in plenty of time to be able to change plans, after a discussion to consider alternatives.

b) turning up and discovering with no warning that there's a major access fail, without the time or the support of key staff to create a workaround.

In scenario a) you know your needs were considered, and your attendance considered important. That everyone did their best, and if you do think of a solution later they'll listen and act on it. So although it's frustrating, you also feel supported and heard.

On the other hand b) is a slap in the face: Complete dismissal. Your needs are irrelevant and your presence is worth nothing. And even when you knew of a really good workaround, their attitude meant that you couldn't use it.

So if you are ever responsible for a practical access fail - remember:

• come up with workarounds if you can,

• then communicate about both the problem and the workaround clearly.

• If you can't think of any workarounds: communicate - and listen to see if the disabled person/people can help you find a workaround.