An Isometric Flowchart with a blue background populated by visual representations of various accessibility services. Disability Rights is represented by a book of law, healthcare is represented by a white cross, universal design by architectural drawing equipment, physical activity by a wheelchair user using a ramp, and inclusivity by a braille sheet.

Accessibility

Guidance

accessibility guidance

How to make your theater inclusive and disability-friendly

The live event market is currently booming, making a huge resurgence within the wider entertainment industry. With the pandemic becoming something of a distant memory, the general public is becoming much more comfortable in crowded spaces again, with live performances and concerts generating billions of dollars a year. The joy of

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accessibility guidance

Steven Mifsud MBE interviewed at MENA Construction Summit

Answering questions on-stage, Steven spoke at the MENA Construction Summit this week on multiple topics effecting the future of the construction industry, ranging from Saudisation, to diversifying the workforce, to improving the local school curriculum. Accessibility and inclusion play key roles in how attraction providers can contribute to the sustainable

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Two female children smile as a rollercoaster sends them flying down the track. One of them is posing for the camera holding her hands up high.
accessibility guidance

Developing Accessible and Inclusive Theme Parks

From improving the emotional well-being of disabled people to generating more wholly positive perceptions of accessibility in the public consciousness, creating accessible and sustainable leisure facilities not only creates positive social awareness of disability issues (particularly among non-disabled children) but also allows disabled people from all walks of life the

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A photograph of Cheshire Oaks retail outlet on a sunny afternoon. A few cloud dot the otherwise blue sky as shoppers walk along the promenade. To the right of the image are Dune and Clogau stores.
accessibility guidance

Designing inclusive retail and shopping spaces for accessibility

It is no secret that the rise of E-commerce, quickly accelerated by changes in people’s spending habits and the realities of our world economy, has resulted in physical retail spaces suffering losses in both consumer and business interest. However, while shopping for our favourite brands has never been easier for

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A photograph of a Tactile Model of an Eagle with a photograph of a bald eagle put next to it for comparison. Text to the left of the model reads "Accessible Interpretation of Wildlife".
accessibility guidance

Tactile Objects and Models are the Future of Accessibility

Most people with disabilities from their lived experience understand what segregation and exclusion feels like. But ask the average disabled person what accessibility means to them, you are pretty much guaranteed to get a different answer every time. To a wheelchair user, it might mean facilities offering automatic doors, wheelchair

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A young Caucasian man who is a wheelchair user eats on the terrace of a restaurant with a Caucasian male friend. The friend assists by cutting his food up with a knife and fork.
accessibility guidance

How cafés and restaurants can better serve disabled patrons

One of our team’s favorite subjects for blogs, (like this one), is using our combined knowledge of accessibility to make recommendations to business owners about how they can become more inclusive to current and (potentially future) PoD customers. Whether that’s by speaking about issues we regularly identify when we do

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A group of Muslim bowing down during prayer in a Mosque as the sunlight shines through on to their white garments.
accessibility guidance

How to maximize accessibility and inclusion in prayer rooms

Worship and prayer are routine practices of Muslims around the world. As such, ensuring that visitors regardless of disability have unobstructed access to Ablution and Prayer Rooms is vital when designing any new public spaces and buildings. Not only is the ability to worship and reflect a right of everyone,

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A photograph of the front cover of the Access Guide which Direct Access produced for Cannock Chase. The cover has a dark green colour scheme with a mixture of yellow and white text. It reads "Cannock Chase access guide. Welcome to the Access Guide for Cannock Chase". Underneath this text is the Cannock Chase logo. A photograph on the cover shows a young white woman with downs syndrome riding a bike with stabilisers joyfully. Next to her getting in close for a photo is a white male companion who is off his bike and holding it with one hand. He is also smiling happily. Behind them is a bike trail through some woods.
accessibility guidance

The benefit to providing accessibility and sensory guides for site visitors

Whether you are a site owner providing an attraction to the public or are the custodian of a heritage site/museum, Accessibility and Sensory Guides are fast-becoming a standard of the overall visitor experience in public recreation, entertainment, and educational settings. Working very much in the same way as a traditional

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An image of a beach. On the right, a stone pathway leads to a white, sandy seafront in Dubai. In the foreground and slightly left of the center, a blue structure with a grey sign reads "Beach access for People of Determination" next to the start of the path.
accessibility guidance

The Direct Access Guide to Accessible Wayfinding

When we hear the phrase “wayfinding”, what most frequently comes to mind is the application and availability of signage in a particular environment, which is normally used to signify elements of a space that require visitor attention, or offer directional guidance in complex environments, such as shopping centers, hospitals, museums,

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A smiling Caucasian man, Steve Dering, holding an iPad is stood in front of various old trains at the Science and Industry Museum.
accessibility guidance

A guide to curating inclusive exhibitions and museums

When we think about accessibility in the context of most built environments, the first thing that comes to mind for most people is whether wheelchair users can directly access the building via ramps, sufficiently wide doors, and elevators. But accessibility is, as we all know, involved much more than mobility

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A modern living room space with artificial plants decorating a space which includes a coffee table and red armchairs.
accessibility guidance

How inclusive and accessible design leads to future-proof housing developments

What is inclusive design? In construction, inclusive design is a sustainable, inclusive, and cost-effective design practice, yet is also massively underutilised. For firms that do use inclusive design when approaching new builds, it presents an opportunity for site owners to create built environments that are massively beneficial to every individual

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Part of a spacious office with a long aisle and row of desks with business supplies and green plants standing by walls and on workstations.
accessibility guidance

The health, environmental, and social benefits of Biophilic design

Biophilic design (from the Greek, ‘philia’ meaning ‘love of life’) is an environmental design choice which is being adopted by architects and decorators around the world for modern office spaces and desk-based work environments. Office spaces, though largely safe and unassuming compared to workplaces of past centuries still provide potential

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A black wheelchair user wearing a white vest and armband carries a basketball in the palm of his left hand and holds on to his wheelchair with his right. He is on a basketball court on a sunny day.
accessibility guidance

Why the Models of Disability matter when creating inclusive environments

As access consultants at Direct Access, we often get asked this question and when we do, we tend to give a rather dry and professional answer explaining legal requirements and building regulations. Whilst these legal boxes indeed need to be ticked, it is hardly an inspirational, encouraging, or motivating answer.

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A mixed group of work colleagues discuss work around an office table. One of them, a male wheelchair user, points to his female colleagues monitor to point something out.
accessibility guidance

How business owners stand to benefit from accessibility and inclusion

When we think of the built environments that make up our society, whether that’s bus stations, libraries, hospitals, supermarkets, or hotels, thought is rarely ever given to the potential of these spaces were they to be rebuilt, readjusted, and made inclusive. Indeed, when we think of accessibility and inclusion in

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Hand of an unrecognizable person dragging a suitcase, wearing on the wrist a lanyard of sunflowers, symbol of people with invisible or hidden disabilities.
accessibility guidance

The difference between disability awareness and understanding

Much is often said about disability awareness, whether it’s businesses and organisations earnestly involving themselves in the various disability awareness days that happen each year, to huge corporations painting an image of inclusivity simply because they offer images of diversity in their branding – it is clear that in today’s

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A young woman helps a female blind child interpret the image of a hedgehog in a braille book.
accessibility guidance

Etiquette for Interacting with a Visually Impaired Person

To preface, it is important that we first acknowledge that while there are generally recommended methods of communicating with blind people, they are ultimately individuals with their own experiences, and will therefore have preferences unique to them. This blog entry is based on preferred etiquette which tends to overlap among

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A smiling young woman with a tattoo sleeve on her living room sofa typing on a laptop with her feet held up on a wheelchair. Her brown and black dog watches her.
accessibility guidance

How to cater to the increased demand for Accessible Media

With society’s increased reliance on digital spaces to carry out everyday tasks, ensuring the provision of Accessible Media is vital. From ordering food shopping to doing taxes to arranging medical appointments to streaming films and television, the digital realm has largely superseded the analogue methods of the past. This progression

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