The world is filled with so many different people. And it’s our job to ensure everyone feels welcomed. If you own real estate, you want to ensure everyone can access your building easily. You want to make your commercial property inclusive for everyone. That means it needs to be disability-friendly, and there are a few ways to accomplish this.
Start With the Entrance
The front of the building and other essential entrance points should welcome everyone. No one should struggle to enter your commercial property. If your building resides on an incline and has stairs in the front, you need a ramp to accompany those stairs.
Any time you see stairs, you should see another form of elevation nearby. Whether it is a ramp or an elevator, you need to keep in mind people who use wheelchairs or walkers. You want all employees to feel welcome. Your property’s design should consider everyone’s needs.
Accessibility is very important for any office. Consider installing automatic doors so that your employees don’t have to struggle holding doors open every day. Instead of having one or two doors designed to open once they press a button, you can just have one automatic door and cut out the middleman. They can walk in and get right to work.
Provide Accessible Parking Spots
If your property has a parking lot, make sure you have plenty of spaces available for people with disabilities. You don’t want them to travel far from their car to your building. Try and have at least three to four spaces available for those with disabilities.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires businesses to provide at least one accessible space for every 25 standard parking spaces. If you have 50 spaces, then you need to incorporate three accessible parking spots. You can space them out from each other but keep each spot close to the front door.
Create Clear Signage
Don’t assume everyone knows the layout of your building or the purpose of certain features. Make sure you have maps and clear signage for everyone to see. It will assist with navigation. Have a sign above elevators, escalators, and any other spots that need to be identified. Include instructions on using your building’s accessibility features, too. The instructions help to prevent people from trying to decipher the function of a feature.
Design Inclusive Restrooms
Of course, your bathroom should include a stall for wheelchair users, but not everyone can find their way to the bathroom. Install signs on the wall with clear pictures that indicate a restroom and have brail written behind the picture.
The vision-impaired use the gift of touch to help them navigate the world. You must assist them with this process. Depending on how you separate your bathrooms, include the brail description at the bottom of each image.
Take it a step further and install signs above the sink so that they can find the soap, water, and napkins to properly wash their hands. In the inscription, include how much soap is left so that they don’t run or waste their time pumping only to discover it’s empty.
Ensure your commercial property receives a visitation from everyone and make it more disability friendly. Inclusivity makes for a better world.
Image from pexels.com.
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