Adapt the venue of your event for disabled people

When organising an event your primary aims are that the ideal number of delegates will attend, and that all attendants will have a positive experience…

Delegates, or speakers, who have a disability may have a wide range of specific requirements when attending an event. Make sure that the venue in which your event is taking place meets their main needs and anticipate to their requirements to ensure a good development of your event for all attendants…

Plan in advance
When planning an event ask the venue provider what facilities are available for disabled delegates. When sourcing a venue for a meeting or an event, ask the venue if there have been any accessibility issues in the past, so it will help to identify if the venue is suitable or if additional arrangements need to be made. If possible, arrange a site visit to ascertain the attitude a venue provider has regarding access and provision of arrangements, the facilities and services for disabled people, and any potential access problems. Discuss any venue access problems or support issues with the provider during planning for the event, as they may be able to suggest possible amendments or alternative actions. Plan the event budget accordingly.

Be prepared and inform your staff
Prepare and inform your staff about how they should handle situation with regards to disabled attendants. Place them in strategic points of the entrance of the venue to inform about the availability of accessible car parking -preferably on site and close to the entrances (within 50m) for people with mobility difficulties, accesses with ramps, lifts with the adequate dimensions… Another option is to hand out plans of the venue with the necessary information regarding easy access entrances and exits, adapted for attendants in wheel chairs. For visually disabled delegates, provide staff to acompany them.

Provide easy access to the event
Make sure the venue is correctly adapted for disabled attendants and the signage are clear and visible. To facilitate access to the event, it is important to bear in mind diverse considerations such as external ramps with the correct width in stair areas, automatic doors in main entrance, main floor without unevenness, lifts to the meeting rooms, and doors to the latter with the correct width. For visually disabled people, make sure stairs have handrails and passageways should be free of obstacles and floors should have non-slippery surfaces.

Planning the timing
It is important to ensure some degree of flexibility within a proposed event
timetable to take into account any alterations or adaptations that may need
to be added. For example, people with mobility issues may need added time to move between rooms and sessions. Support workers, such as sign language interpreters, may require regular breaks and changeovers to ensure they do not become too tired. Also, more than one interpreter will be needed for events longer than two hours.

Speakers
Make sure speakers are fully informed about possible needs of the participants. For example, the speaker may have to use a microphone connected to a loop system. Advise speakers to ensure that the content and meaning of slides is communicated to the audience orally. Encourage speakers to always face the audience to ensure lip readers can understand their presentation. Have information provided in alternative formats.

Support workers
Interpreting and communication support workers, note takers, enablers