Accessible Information Exchange: Meeting on a Level Playing Field

Introduction

Meetings between businesses and people with disabilities – whether related to researching customer preferences, developing a business education curriculum, or discovering effective ways to comply with the ADA – can result in innovative ideas and powerful collaborations that bring greater access to customers with disabilities and attract new customers to businesses. Gathering Input from Customers with Disabilities (http://www.ada.gov/custinfo.pdf)

For these meetings to be successful, everyone involved must have an equal opportunity to participate. Three components are key to presenting meetings that are accessible to people with disabilities: where the meeting is held, how the meeting room furniture is arranged, and how the meeting information is communicated. Event organizers will find that when these elements are accessible, they serve not only the participants with disabilities but also a wide range of others, including older adults, baby boomers, and people with temporary disabilities.

Expanding Your Market

When people with disabilities and business owners talk in a friendly forum, collaboration, not litigation, is the likely result.