BUSINESSES and destinations that embrace accessibility are opening the door to a vast, often overlooked market, according to the founder of ‘Purple Tuesday’.
Mike Adams, who was in Jersey to promote disability inclusion last week, highlighted the “purple pound” – the spending power of disabled people and their families – was now valued at £274 billion and rising by 14% each year.
“Unlock accessibility, and you open up a market for businesses and organisations and you drive a better quality for people like me,” Mr Adams said. “It’s a win, win, win.”
He stressed that accessibility improvements are often low or no cost, and benefit everyone.
“Wheelchair users comprise 8% of the disabled population, so, the question back is: what are you doing for the other 92%? This takes you away from lifts and ramps – which remain incredibly important to many people – to some other changes that could be made,” he said, pointing to simple changes like staff learning basic sign language or adopting the ‘six-second rule’ for neurodiverse customers, which means pausing to give them a chance to reflect on their answer.
Mr Adams believes that local organisations who prioritise inclusivity would not only boost their bottom line but also attract younger generations.
“If you don’t, you’re going to struggle to recruit these in your workforce in the coming years, because they only want to work for brands that have the same values as them,” he said.
- Mike Adams is the subject of today’s Big Read on pages 12 and 13 of today’s JEP.
