Describe your premises plainly on the website: steps, ramps, door widths, washrooms, parking and seating, with photographs of the entrance. People with mobility needs check before they visit, and a vague accessible label does not answer them.

The question before the visit

Someone who uses a wheelchair, a walker or a cane plans a visit differently. Before booking a table or an appointment, they need to know whether they can get in, move around and use the washroom.

Most business websites do not say. The contact page gives an address and a map, the photographs show the room from its best angle, and nothing mentions the two steps at the door.

So people phone and ask, or choose somewhere that has already answered, or stay home.

The same questions matter to parents with strollers, older customers who avoid stairs and anyone recovering from an injury.

What people check before they come

The fourth is the one that decides most visits. A guest can often manage one step with help, but a washroom down a flight of stairs ends the plan before it starts.

Why one label is not enough

A single line saying wheelchair accessible means different things to different people. To some owners it means there is no step at the door.

To someone in a power wheelchair it means a door wide enough, a washroom they can turn around in and a table they can reach.

Measurements and photographs answer the question. A label asks the reader to trust it.

Partial access is worth describing too. A step-free entrance with an upstairs washroom is useful information, not a failure to hide.

Measure it and photograph it

Walk from the parking lot to a table or counter as a visitor would, with a tape measure and a phone.

Count the steps and measure the height of each. Measure the narrowest door on the route, including the washroom door, and note whether doors open with a button or need a firm pull.

Photograph the entrance from the sidewalk, the door, the route inside and the washroom. A clear picture of the door tells a visitor more than any description of it.

Where the information belongs

Put it on a page of its own, named plainly, such as Accessibility or Getting here. Link to that page from the contact page, the booking page and the footer.

Repeat the essentials where people decide: a line beside the booking button, a sentence on the contact page.

The same entrance photographs belong on your Google My Business listing, because plenty of people check the map before the website.

And make sure everyone who answers the phone knows the same facts, so callers hear the same answer whoever is on shift.

A worked example

An oyster bar occupies the ground floor of an old brick building in a downtown neighbourhood. The front door is two steps up from the sidewalk, and the washrooms are in the basement.

Its website had a menu, a booking link and photographs of the bar at night. Nothing described the entrance or the washrooms.

A guest booked a birthday dinner for eight, one of whom used a wheelchair. Staff lifted the chair up the steps on arrival, and there was no washroom that guest could use all evening.

The review that followed was polite and detailed. The building could not change quickly. What could change was what people knew before they booked.

The owners added a page giving the height of both steps and describing the side entrance from the lane, where a portable ramp is kept.

The page also explains that the washrooms are in the basement, and that guests may use the accessible washroom in the hotel lobby next door.

The booking form now asks whether anyone needs step-free access, and staff set the ramp out before those guests arrive.

Be honest about what is not accessible

It is tempting to leave out the parts that do not work. Visitors then find out at the door, which is worse for everybody.

State limits plainly and without apology: the washrooms are downstairs and there is no lift. Then say what you can offer, such as a ramp, a table near the door or help with the door.

People with disabilities plan around limits every day. What they cannot plan around is information that turns out to be wrong.

Not only wheelchairs

Physical access covers more than steps. Mention lighting and noise for people with low vision or hearing loss, and quieter times for anyone who finds crowds hard.

Say whether there is seating while people wait, whether chairs have arms for those who need help standing up, and where a guide dog can settle.

Small details like these often decide whether a visit is comfortable or merely possible.

Keep it current

Access changes. Construction blocks the ramp, a lift is out of service, the accessible parking stall moves.

Update the page the day it happens, and add a short notice where people book. Check the page twice a year, when you check your hours and photographs.

The counter-case

A business that rarely receives visitors, such as a contractor who works at customers' homes, has little to describe beyond the office.

A business in a new building with level entrances and accessible washrooms may need only a few lines and a photograph of the door.

And a page like this describes the premises as they are; it does not replace improvements where those are possible.

For any business that receives visitors, describe the entrance, the washroom and the parking plainly, with photographs, where people look before they come.

Before the next booking

  1. Walk the route from parking to seat.
  2. Measure the steps and the narrowest door.
  3. Photograph the entrance and the washroom door.
  4. Write a plain page describing what you found.
  5. Link it from the contact and booking pages.
  6. Add entrance photographs to your Google listing.
  7. Brief whoever answers the phone.

Step one matters most, because owners walk through their own door every day without noticing it. Walking it as a visitor reveals the step, the heavy door and the tight corner that habit hides.

Helping people find the entrance in the first place is covered in the shopping centre unit number nobody can find.

Frequently asked questions

What do visitors with mobility needs check first?

Whether they can get in, move around and use the washroom: steps at the entrance, door widths, level changes inside, the washroom's location and size, parking and seating.

Is a wheelchair accessible label enough?

No. It means different things to different people. Measurements and photographs of the entrance, the route inside and the washroom let each visitor judge for themselves.

Should I mention what is not accessible?

Yes, plainly and without apology, along with what you can offer instead. People plan around limits every day; what they cannot plan around is information that proves wrong.

Where should the information go?

On a plainly named page reached from the contact page, the booking page and the footer, with the essentials repeated beside the booking button and on your Google listing.

What should I photograph?

The entrance from the sidewalk, the door itself, the route inside to the seating and the washroom door. A clear picture of the door tells visitors more than a description.

How often should the page be checked?

Whenever something changes, such as construction or a broken lift, and twice a year alongside your hours and photographs, so nobody arrives expecting access that is gone.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

Nothing on your site about steps?

Send us your address and a few photographs of the entrance. We will help you write the page.

Start a Conversation