Access for all

We know you want to create an amazing event for your participants, but are you making sure you're thinking about, and supporting everyone, to be able to get involved?

We're committed to helping our partners to make their events as accessible as possible and to remove any barriers disabled people may face in accessing them.

Our Top Tips for In-Person Events

• Disability Equality North West (DENW) recommends only booking fully accessible venues as default for your events, making this a welcoming and accessible safe space for all.
• Good access starts before the day of the event. Think about people getting there by bus, or car, or dropped off in taxis / by friends. How will they find out about the event? Is it on your website and social media? What about people who don't use social media or the internet?
• Consult with disabled volunteers, staff, trustees or users of the service on the best ways to make your event, venue and promotion as accessible as possible.
• If stages are present at your event, make sure they are accessible via ramps. Wheelchair access is also required to the venue / event.
• Ensure all publicity is accessible, follow RNIB guidance for people with a visual impairment.
• Ensure the fonts and text used on wayfinding and signage are easy to read.
• Ensure the event has accessible disabled toilets, and make sure the location of the toilets is signposted.
• As a team, regularly check any booking or pre-registration requests and ensure any support, ie: interpreters, lip speakers etc, have been booked and caterers are aware of dietary needs.
• Make support / carer tickets available for your event for people that may require assistance.
• If you're planning to use special effects (SFX) or fireworks at your event, please make sure this is made obvious to attendees.
• Make sure you have a quiet space available that caters to medical and welfare needs.
• Where possible, have a Disability Champion for the event who is easily identifiable and contactable.
• Ensure that you have a designated Safeguarding Lead for the event.

Our Top Tips for Promoting Your Event

• When promoting your event, always try and make the promotional literature as simple and easy to read as possible, with simple English.
• With large blocks of text, choose a left-aligned option to make this easier to read for people with Dyslexia for example.
• When uploading and sharing images online, always provide an Alt Tag for the image for those who are using screen readers.
• Where possible, offer British Sign Language (BSL), Easy Read, Audio Description and Subtitles for any rich media content.
• If possible, when hosting event pages on your own website, use an accessibility widget such as Recite Me.

For more information, visit The Resource Centre for useful guidance.

Thank you to Disability Equality North West for providing the information for this section. If you have any further questions regarding accessibility, please contact DENW at hello@disability-equality.org.uk.