Opening up our city in a safe and inclusive way: updates from EQuIP

As restrictions are lifted, we are all witnessing yet another dramatic shift in how our businesses work. Whether you’re a business opening its doors for the first time this year, an online organisation concerned about what the shift will mean for you, or a company considering welcoming your team back to the office, there are understandably a lot of questions and concerns.

In the latest Equalities and Inclusion Partnership (EQuIP), we spent time discussing how we can open the city in a safe and inclusive way. Diversity and Ability, as the representative for Brighton Chamber, were there to ensure the concerns and needs of our businesses were included in the conversation.

Although this is guaranteed to be a time of uncertainty, there are regulations to follow and steps you can take to ensure you’re doing everything you can to keep yourselves, your customers, and your teams safe - and make sure we’re able to continue on the journey towards re-opening our city in an inclusive way.

Offer an anticipatory welcome for individual needs and differences

In our last blog post, we discussed ‘hidden’ disabilities, and shared our three top tips for making sure your online business is conducted in an inclusive way that ensures everyone is able to access it.

This is just as important for face-to-face communications. Remember that not all disabilities are visible, and the best way to include everyone and open yourselves up to a diverse audience is to proactively implement inclusive strategies. This includes:

• Making accessibility the default. Make sure step-free access is available without someone having to request it, and that disabled toilets aren’t locked or, if they are, that you don’t question why someone is asking to use it.
• Being mindful of the space you take up. As our businesses expand to offer safer, outside offerings, we need to be aware that blocking the pavement slightly could mean a disabled person, such as a wheelchair user or blind person with a service animal, is completely unable to move through the area. Make sure you always leave room for everyone to access a space safely.
• Let your customers tell you what they need. Make it visible that you are available to support and happy to make any adaptations needed to make customers’ time with you safe and comfortable. We’d recommend connecting with a resource that gives customers the opportunity to share their access requirements before they visit you. We love WelcoME by Neatebox for making this easy and accessible for both customers and businesses!

Don’t abandon your online offering

Many disabled people are still shielding, and many more will still face access barriers. For us, the idea of returning to ‘normal’ is not a welcome one. We’ve written more about this on our blog, but the key thing for businesses to remember is that continuing to offer remote options means including a diverse range of customers and boosting your organisation’s success. 

Keep up the good work!

To share updates on how we’re opening up the city safely, EQuIP was joined by Jo Player, Head of Service, for Safer Communities at Brighton & Hove City Council.

Jo highlighted that as we adapt to changing regulations, businesses have, on the whole, been continuously doing a great job of staying abreast of restrictions and making sure all necessary measures are followed.

And there’s more being done by the city to help keep us all safe. Safer Communities meet weekly to consider every eventuality that will affect the capacity of our city and in turn our businesses; everything from weather, to sporting events, to tide times is taken into account.

You can keep up to date with the latest advice and regulations on the council’s website. If you have a specific question or concern, you can email the COVID information team: covid.information@brighton-hove.gov.uk.

Get involved with EQuIP

D&A are proud to be representing the interests and concerns of Brighton businesses in EQuIP. And the more input we have from you, the more we can create the conversations that really matter to you.

Our next meeting is Wednesday 21st July. If you have anything to discuss which relates to Equality and Inclusion - no matter how big or small - get in touch with us, so we can make sure we are an accurate and effective voice on the issues that really matter to you.

Contact us by emailing Emma Turner at workplace@diversityandability.com. We look forward to hearing from you!

Diversity and Ability is an award-winning disabled-led social enterprise working to create inclusive cultures where diversity is valued and people can thrive.

We support individuals, organisations and social-justice projects to embrace and advocate for diversity through 1:1 support, training and workshops that are supportive and inclusive for all. Find out more about how we could work with you at diversityandability.com.

If you want to contribute to the Chamber blog, contact us on hannah@brightonchamber.co.uk