AS:001 The Business Case for Accessibility

You are listening to Accessibility Solutions. If you're a business looking to improve your bottom line, then you're in the right place. In the show, we'll discuss how making the world accessible is great for business and the economy. My name is Linda Hunt and I am an award winning accessibility consultant, speaker and author, and a longtime advocate for all things related to accessibility. Thank you for joining me. So let's get started.

This is a webinar series accessibility is good for business. I do want to thank our partners. So David, thank you from the Chamber of Commerce. We've got the grind up Council on Aging Lucy Marco was the first one to jump on board when I kind of floated this around, and the Brantford Brant Business Resource Center. So the the partnership, really is for you to also be able to share, first of all the live webinars with your audience, but but certainly the recordings are available for you to to access as well. So a little bit about me, I am the CEO of accessibility solutions. I'm an award winning accessibility consultant, speaker, author. I've also been a longtime advocate for accessibility. But where I, where I really bring experience to accessibility being good for business is the fact that my husband and I have owned and operated our own business here in Brantford for just over 32 years, I also spent a number of years working with some business development organizations around Southern Ontario as both a business consultant and a trainer. And I myself am a person with a disability. So I bring the lived experience part of of what I'm going to present today to the to the conversation. So today's topic is the business case for accessibility. The agenda for today is really how accessibility will improve your business bottom line, we're going to talk about the spending power of persons with disabilities and their impact on the economy, how business or how accessibility will give your business a significant competitive advantage, and why all businesses need to embrace a culture of inclusion in order to thrive, how disabilities persons with disabilities can complement your staff team. So thank you all for for joining us. So your business bottom line 22% of the population, which is 6.2 million Canadians, which is that's the number of Canadians living with a disability that either impairs their mobility, their vision or their hearing, that number is going to continue to rise at nearly double the pace of the population as a whole. And the reason for that is is we're going to get to in the next slide, but really can your business afford to ignore this markup? The reason that this is going to continue to increase is Baby Boomers. And so everyone's heard about the market size of baby boomers. But what people don't really think about when they think about baby boomer boomers is that 40% of baby boomers for people over the age of 65 have a disability that impairs their mobility, their vision or their hearing. So although spending on restaurants, retail and entertainment currently makes up a smaller share of their monthly expenditures, they would spend more on these items if they were more accessible. The number one spending that persons with disabilities make our grocery. So grocery stores for sure need to be accessible. But all of these other businesses, restaurants, retail entertainment are businesses that would be able to get a share of this consumer market if they were accessible. So there is a strong demand for entertainment, recreation and participate participation in sport and other physical activities. But it's currently going going unmet because of accessibility barriers. So we're spending by this group will rise to 25% of the total consumer market.

So a competitive advantage, there is a desire and an unmet need for more businesses to be accessible, so why not yours? It gives us significant competitive advantage. Businesses that are expressed accessible have very loyal customers. As a person with a disability, I know that if I find a business, whether it be a store, a restaurant or an event venue, a service that I that I am seeking out, accessibility usually is one of his love. For me, it has to be the number one thing that I look at. But when I am going out to a restaurant or one of these other stores to do some shopping, I'm very loyal to businesses that are accessible. So what, what also you want to consider when you're looking at the investment in making your business successful, is the lifetime customer value in terms of the dollars they will spend there. So if you are an accessible restaurant, for example, I'm going to come and while providing your food and services good, which you've probably done a good job at your accessibility is going to be the number one reason that I'm going to come back. So it gives you a huge return on investment in making your business accessible, because of that competitive advantage that that it's going to give you. The other thing that I like to talk about in terms of the size of this market is what I call the sphere of influence. So for every one person with a disability, their family, friends and colleagues are also influenced by the accessibility of a business. So if I'm going out shopping with my husband, for example, then as a person with a disability, and now my husband who is accompanying me or my friends that are joining me, shopping, businesses that are accessible are certainly getting not just my business, but anyone that's with me, their business as well. The same with restaurants, event venues, recreation, and travel. These are all businesses that are impacted by the sphere of influence that that person with a disability has, because anyone accompanying them is going to be influenced by the accessibility of that business. There are also more women than men with a disability. And that that impairs their mobility, vision or hearing and this gap will continue to grow through the forecast because the population is aging, statistically women outlive men. But from a spending decision perspective, women usually make the spending decision. And I see a few men that are smoking there that are well aware that that your wife or significant other is the one that's maybe making the decision. I certainly know in our household that's it's not just me as the person with the disability, but it's also me as the as the wife that's deciding where we're going to eat, where we're going to shop, where we're going on vacation, what kind of events we're going to so that's something to give some thought to as well.

So the spending patterns of persons with disabilities. So given the spending power of them, and the fact that their share of the consumer market will continue to grow, businesses must be aware that the current limitations that exist in serving that market and how they can tap into the market in the future is by making accessibility improvements to their business. Conference Board of Canada conducted a survey back in 2017. And at that point, 43% of respondents with moderate to severe disabilities indicated that their current condition limited their ability to purchase goods and services outside their home. Many of these individuals believe that improvements in accessibility would make a difference in their ability to interact and engage in their community, but also spend their money as desired. So persons with disabilities I think the takeaway here is that they have money to spend and the accessibility of your business is going to be a direct impact on whether they choose to spend the money at your business or a business that is more accessible. So the economic impact of improved accessibility, making facilities and workplaces more accessible allows more people with disabilities to work, and many who are already employed will be able to work more. By 2030, that lift to the economy's productive capacity due to create proved workplace accessibility would result in a permanent increase in the GDP of over $16.8 billion dollars. So not only is accessibility good for your business, it really is good for the economy. Boost to labor income would lift real personal disposable income by $10.6. billion, facilitating a $10 billion dollar increase in consumer spending. So this is persons with disabilities are now working. So they have more money to spend, and they're going to be spending it in the accessible business. So these real GDP and income gains gains, but also revinate would also generate real revenue for both the federal and provincial governments. So this is like a win win win. So embracing a culture of inclusion, accessibility and inclusion should be part of your overall organizational strategy. When inclusive values are incorporated into strategy, policy and accessibility becomes more intentional, and carries through to plans in action. This is more than just a legal standard or a specification or a box to check that you've filled out your accessibility compliance report, it really involves fostering a sense of inclusion. So people with disabilities can flourish. So I think everybody that's in business as well aware that there is a labor shortage and that labor shortage is only going to increase as the population ages because there are more people leaving the workforce as as the population ages, because they're retiring. But there are fewer people entering the workforce than are leaving it. So opening up your business to employing persons with disabilities would is really going to significantly add to the future pool of workers and also the quality of life for individuals with disabilities.

So accessible and inclusive hiring practices give your business another significant competitive advantage. Persons with disabilities are the most overlooked and underutilized workforce in Canada, improvements to workplace accessibility would allow 550,000 Canadians with disabilities to work more, increasing the GDP by $16.8 billion by 2030. So these are these are real numbers, these are persons with disabilities that are going to come and work in your business, they're going to earn a living wage, they're going to then be able to spend that money that they earn on businesses that are accessible. So I really, you know, in summary, there's a powerful economic incentive for making businesses and institutions accessible to people with disabilities. But it's it's really a win win win cycle. So greater greater access to employment, deepens the labor pool, and increases incomes that combined with foster growth in the population of persons with disabilities, gives this group substantial consumer clout. So these people have, we're going to have people with disabilities that are earning money. We're going to have people that have retired baby boomers that have money to spend, and all of that whether your business gets a share of that is going to depend on the accessibility of your business. So people with disabilities clearly want to spend those dollars in their communities, working shopping and enjoying leisure, leisure activities, just like everyone else. Do you want to unmute yourself? And we'll just we'll take any questions around the presentation.

Hi Linda, this is Thea Kurdi from DesignABLE Environments. idea. I don't know if you're familiar with our work. Oh, okay, great. So we're built environment accessible. At least specialists who are working with businesses of all kinds and government to help create the physical built environments for accessibility. So there's lots of really good resources. So I know when people are starting to think about this, and trying to think about how do I do this? How do I transform business? What do I need? What's that look like? How would I plan for it? There's a ton of great, detailed free resources available that people can access. Many of our municipalities, particularly in Ontario, have a free municipal standards, typically called Accessibility design guidelines, or something similar to that. So you can look up your local set of requirements. And Linda mentioned that there's a legal aspect to this in addition to the benefits to business. And that's usually what we're talking about with clients is that the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal has pointed out, unfortunately, that our legislation in the form of the Ontario building code, and the accessible or the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, unfortunately, do not meet the requirements of the Human Rights Code. So most of our clients are coming to us and saying, how do we fill this liability gap? So we're capitalizing on the business opportunity, but how do we fill the liability gap? So you really are looking for more than code minimum as opportunities for these kinds of improvements. There's also a CSA document or Canadian Standards Association document called Be 651. There's a 2018 version out, it's available for purchase, there are some free copies on the internet that you can find. There's also additional free resources from the Canadian National Institute for Blind in the form of the CNI bees, clearing our path. If you do a Google search for that, that'll take you directly to their website, as well, full of details about specifically how to make sure both environments are accessible to people with vision loss, or who are blind. So anyway, I just wanted to sort of interject that if you're interested in pursuing this, I also spoke at the Ontario VA Association, this past fall, and that there's a recording of as well as talk a little bit about some of the benefits and some of the resources and some of the legalities as well. So if people are interested, there's a lot of really good information already in the marketplace to help you. Thanks, Linda. This was great.

Oh, and thank you, Thea. I, I've been on several conferences kind of with the she really is an expert when it comes to kind of the built environment. What I what I do when we work with businesses, we we know we talk about everything from the built environment, but you know, in, in my case, as a person with a disability that uses a power wheelchair, accessibility to your business literally starts in the parking lot. So can I get parked? How close how close is the is De Niro's curb cut. And that and this is accessibility that starting from the point that I've left my wheelchair accessible, man. So first of all, can I get Park and deploy my ramp? Let's usually challenge number one, and then and then it's, you know, can I get in your door? And this is where thieves expertise comes in, you know, can I get in your door? You know, once I get in your door, can I navigate through your store? Can I get seated at a table? That is that's wheelchair accessible when I mean, I just made a reservation for my daughter's 25th Birthday B, which is happening this weekend. But I mean, a reservation at a restaurant for me. First of all, in includes me doing the the research that that restaurant is accessible, but then when I call for the reservation, I'm also making sure that the business under the restaurant understands that, you know, I'm making a reservation for five one of us is in a wheelchair, so has to be a table can't be a booth, you know, that kind of thing. So, and then we get into the whole is, you know, the washrooms, you know, all of that kind of stuff. So, so we are we meaning persons with disabilities are really a market that like I said, No business can afford to ignore, but there's just so many considerations when you're talking about business accessibility. So, as I said, it starts In the parking lot, you know, right through to, you know, five shopping, how can I get my purchases back out to my man so that, you know, what we're really hoping with this webinar series is that we're going to go through a lot of these steps one by one, where, you know, we're addressing individual business concerns and questions. So today was really an overview on the business case for accessibility. So why, you know, we're talking about the size of the market. And the fact that that market is growing, so every business needs to start, if they're not already considering accessibility, they really need to start because if they don't, they are going to be left behind as, as we call it, well, baby boomers would call it the silver tsunami. But keeping in mind that figure that 40% of baby boomers, people over the age of 65 have a disability of some sort. And you know, now we're now we're talking about huge, huge numbers, a huge consumer market that if your business is not accessible, is not going to thrive. Now Thea has also said the EO da deadline for making material accessible is 2025, which is less than three years. And I will tell you, yeah, I was around in 2005, when this legislation was passed, which gave us 20 years for this to happen. So here we are, with three years to go. And we've got a long, long way to go. But that's a that's a whole other whole other webinars series of webinars. And as I said, next month's method webinar will be on the EO da, and while your business must comply. He has given us a couple of resources. So I've got a couple of questions in the chat. So Donna has said can you address available programs for accessibility training? So in I'm assuming, Donna, just you're you're talking about staff training, which next month's session, which is all about the EO, da and your requirements to comply. We'll start certainly address that. But available programs. I'm not sure if you're meaning programs that have staff training or programs for funding staff training, adonis's Yes, staff training, so programs.

So accessibility solutions, we do staff training, staff training, first of all, is a requirement under the yo da. But in terms of business accessibility, they're the reason that staff training is required under the EO DA is because there is an Accessible Customer Service standard, which has a mandate of staff training component programs to train your staff. I mean, you can Google stuff, staff training programs. My concern with a lot of the online modules that are there is that there is a requirement for businesses to make sure that they train their staff on their individual policies and procedures. That doesn't happen if you do the, if you do the kind of boilerplate staff training. The other. The other requirement is that you are required to train your staff on the devices that you've got in your particular workplace. So for example, I went to an event venue, this was a couple of years ago now, but there was actually no staff there that knew how to use the stair lift. So when I went in the actual event venue that I was attending, you went in the door and then it was like a lowered area for gathering before the event started. So you could just well imagine here I am, I get in the door and there was a stair lift, but there was no actual staff there that knew how to work it. Which kind of meant that you know, now I now I paid for a ticket and I can get in the door. And I can stand at the top of that I can in my case sit at the top of the stairs. And it took probably a good 30 minutes for them to find a manager that didn't All it required was a key. But again, nobody nobody did The the event staff that were there working the floor didn't didn't know how to use it. Nobody knew that there was a key that needed to be found and who had the key. And so you can, you know, you can well imagine that that made the experience for me attending, in my case with my family, this event venue. I mean, I get in the door, but then I can't get down the stairlift to, to the sunken area. That was the where everyone was gathering before they went into it into the actual event. I've got yeah, great stories. Yeah, I've got some real horror stories. You can I can tell you the story about last weekend, my husband and I went to Toronto for our anniversary. And I thought we would use the path to go from Union Station to our hotel. And so the path for anybody that's been to Toronto was kind of like the underground. way to get there. And it was raining when we when we arrived on the Friday. Anyway, for what above ground was a 12 minute walk, my husband pushing my lift, took us an hour and 20 minutes through the path because it seemed like we would go so far. And then we had to buzz for somebody to either use a lift us one of the little stair things stair glide things, or we would get to somewhere that that needed us to basically take we'll call it the backdoor route out into a parking garage and then enter through another elevator. So you know that that kind of thing. Just, you know, I could do a whole session on, you know, proper signage for just trying. So Donna says she was referring to in house trainings. So yes, as I said, we we do we do training for for staff? And does it need to be annually? It's not that it expires, but it certainly has to be new. Any new staff have to be trained within a reasonable amount of time. And again, this will cover under the under the EO da any other questions that people have got in there. Thank you to Thea and and Trish for your comments that are resources.

Zach says great point about the opportunity to engage those with disabilities in the in the workforce. Any tips for prospective employers? Yeah, the biggest, the biggest challenge that we find what we're working with employers is that there's an attitudinal barrier that somehow employers feel that if they hire a person with a disability, they're going to be absent more, or that the accommodations required for that person are going to be something that they cannot absorb. The real thing to consider when you're looking at I think there's a study out there and someone may have the study, but the study says that it's something like 80% of accommodations for employees with a disability is under $500. So I can tell you as a person with a disability that has worked in businesses and and ended up hired employees, that the benefits far, far outweigh the Yes, Tertius got a comment in there. But anyway, the benefits far outweigh the cost of any accommodations and really what people have to do is get there you know, get their minds around that attitude change that attitude, no barrier, that persons with disabilities are going to you know, they're going to be absent more sick, or you know, whatever, they really have to look at the potential for that individual over and above the fact that they have a disability. So I always like to say, my ability is much stronger than my than my disability. And Tricia has just shared a four year study by Accenture that proves that employing people with disabilities increase their profit margin by 30%. I'm so I will tell you that my husband's business girl and apparel graphics, we have hired people with disabilities and I basically am the CEO and I'm a person with a disability, you've really got to consider the fact that, you know, the person with a disability is is not is not going to cost you more than you're more than you're you're going to realize in benefits from hiring that person. So I mean, Accenture, this is a large company, but their their study proves that employees with disabilities increase their profit margin by 30%. You know, that's those are real numbers. This is, this is again, where we talk about the accessibility really improving, you're improving your bottom line. So Zack, I hope that answered your questions. So any tips for prospective employers, the other thing that we really should point out here is under the EO da, there is an entire Employment Standard. So that's, you know, that's something that businesses need to understand as well, when they're looking at their certainly the recruitment and hiring processes that they need to build accessibility into that, as well. So that's something that is up for consideration. Our next webinar, as I said, May 24, at one o'clock, that topic is going to be what is the EO da, why does my business need to comply? So in that webinar, we're really going to be talking about the standards under the EO da and why businesses need to comply. So certainly hope that you'll join us for that, if you

got something out of today, which I certainly hope that you did, then I, then I would encourage you to, to follow us on social media, to to engage with the webinars, as I said, we're doing six of them in 2022. With a with a number of topics that are all about why accessibility is good for business, also engaged with our partner organizations, which really are experts in the, in the business community. So certainly the Chamber of Commerce, and the fact that David in the chamber has, has come on as a partner for this series, to me really shows that they as a business organization, understand the the importance of accessibility in, in the business community. Now the break for brand Resource Center, a great resource for for businesses as well. And also, for businesses considering accessibility, I would, you know, like I said, Please book your free 15 minute consultation, we will go ahead and cover you know, anything you want to in relation to, to business. This is our contact information. So we do a Oda compliance staff training, assessments and audits and we also do modifications, residential and commercial. And I will tell you that that baby boomer population, we're really seeing a real uptick in residential modifications that, that baby boomers, you know, require, all of a sudden things like a grab bar in the shower is no longer something that they thought you know, was only for, you know, persons with disabilities, it's now a safety issue just for for someone that's maybe had a hip replacement or something like that. So so we're really seeing an uptick, tick on on that. And if you've got any questions, concerns, comments, or otherwise, please feel free to reach out to me or any one of our partners and, and we are glad to have you with us as we cover the business case for accessibility today. Bye, everyone.