Designing accessible events

People with disabilities and older people have a right to access all areas of social participation. Yet, the way that the built and social environments are often constructed serves to restrict the access of these groups to a wide range of activities that unduly constrains their citizenship. From an organisational position, it makes sound business sense to be inclusive of all members of society in order to maximise business potential. Further, most nations now have human rights legislation that places the responsibility on organisations to address access issues for these groups. The Australian Centre for Event Management provides leadership to assist organizations of events to facilitate the involvement of people with disabilities and older people in conferences, festivals, sporting, and other events that they conduct. This leadership is based on an understanding of universal design principles to maximise participation of these groups through a detailed understanding of mobility, vision, hearing and cognitive access dimensions. ACEM staff have a long history of involvement in facilitating the involvement of people with access considerations in all event roles - participants, employees, performers, spectators, community members - and can provide expertise to strategically address access issues through an overall organisational approach.

Inclusive and accessible special event planning: an Australian perspective

By Simon Darcy and Rob Harris, University of Technology, Sydney