Using digital solutions to make your facility more accessible: Ensuring visitors feel confident

Visual assets like videos and images can help demonstrate how your venue or facilities have been designed to be inclusive and accessible, empowering all visitors to feel confident that the environment is suitable for them and when they visit.

Videos and images are a great way to communicate your access offer, making sure every visitor feels confident in enjoying the space without the worry of how they’ll navigate it. Making digital solutions to enhance your accessibility is easier than you may think.

Why accessibility matters

For many disabled people, societal barriers can create significant uncertainty and hinder full participation in daily activities.

Physical barriers, such as a lack of ramps, narrow doorways, malfunctioning lifts, or poorly designed toilets, can prevent people who use wheelchairs from navigating spaces with ease.

Sensory barriers, such as a lack of clear signage, inconsistent lighting, or high noise levels, can make environments inaccessible for individuals with visual, auditory, or sensory sensitivities.

Cognitive and communication barriers, like unclear instructions, complex layouts, or insufficient support for neurodiversity, can create additional challenges.

These preventable obstacles often overshadow what should be an inclusive, enjoyable experience for everyone.

It’s crucial to identify, eliminate, or reduce barriers that prevent visitors from fully enjoying their experience. Providing opportunities for visitors to explore or understand the environment in advance demonstrates a commitment to inclusivity, showing that your space is not only physically accessible but also welcoming to all.

When visitors can see that their access needs have been thoughtfully considered, they can focus entirely on enjoying your venue, whether it’s a museum, a theatre, or another cultural space.

Showcasing accessibility through videos and photos

In addition to creating a physically accessible space, it’s equally important to communicate your access offer clearly to potential visitors.

One effective way to do this is by featuring videos or photo series on your website that showcase the inclusive design of your venue and highlight the steps you’ve taken to identify and reduce barriers, ensuring that all visitors feel welcome and supported

Here’s how:

1. Clarity and transparency: Photos and videos provide potential visitors with a clear understanding of what to expect. By showcasing a range of accessibility features—such as accessible entrances, ramps, wide hallways, lift locations, and accessible toilets, as well as sensory-friendly areas, clear signage, hearing loops, and quiet spaces—you eliminate uncertainty and help all visitors feel confident about navigating your space. This transparency allows individuals to envision themselves comfortably using your venue, fostering a sense of inclusion and trust.

2. Demonstrating ease of movement: A video showcasing someone using a wheelchair or other mobility aids moving easily through the venue, accessing all areas without difficulty, is incredibly reassuring for some potential visitors. Seeing ramps, accessible pathways, and wide-open spaces in action, builds trust and allows visitors to imagine themselves comfortably enjoying your facility.

3. Highlighting key accessibility features: You can use the video or photos to call attention to specific elements that enhance accessibility—such as the smooth transition from curb to entrance, the positioning of accessible parking spaces, or the location of lifts. By showing how each of these features integrates seamlessly into the visitor experience, you emphasise that accessibility is not an afterthought but a priority.

4. Showcasing staff assistance: Digital accessibility solutions can also demonstrate how trained staff are available to assist visitors with access. Showing staff helping with wheelchair rentals, guiding visitors to accessible routes, or providing assistance with accessibility equipment creates an environment of care and attention to detail.

5. A Real-time walkthrough: A video walkthrough offers a real-time sense of how visitors will navigate your space. You can highlight accessible routes, show where ramps are located, and guide them through areas like toilets and dining spaces. This dynamic walkthrough can give potential visitors a tangible sense of the flow of movement within your venue. A walkthrough also allows potential visitors to identify barriers to them and contact you ahead of their visit for support if needed.

Accessibility solutions in digital formats can build trust. When visitors see that you’ve taken steps to identify, reduce or eliminate access barriers for every type of visitor, they’re more likely to choose your venue over others and recommend it to their friends or family. They’ll also feel more comfortable returning, knowing that their experience will be just as smooth and enjoyable as the first time.

Here are some great examples:

Millie-Beth from the Institute of Contemporary Arts wanted to showcase the building’s good points but also wanted to make visitors aware of its limitations, older buildings can be more difficult to access and are likely to have more barriers for potential visitors but taking steps to demonstrate their accessibility using simple digital solutions really helps.

Andy from the Heugh Battery Musuem, wanted to share with visitors the many easily accessible aspects of the museum and offer a warm welcome to them ahead of their visit.

https://www.heughbattery.co.uk/visitus/

And finally, Lindsey from Levity & Gravity wanted to make sure that everyone who was attending her workshop felt comfortable ahead of time by providing guidance around public transport and access to the building.

Further support

The Digital Culture Network is here to support you and your organisation. Our Tech Champions can provide free one-to-one support to all creative and cultural organisations who are in receipt of, or eligible for, Arts Council England funding. If you need help or would like to chat with us about any of the advice we have covered above, please get in touch. Sign up for our newsletter below and follow us on LinkedIn and X (Twitter) @ace_dcn for the latest updates.