Understanding the ADA
-
Where does the ADA affect your business?
-
Are persons with disabilities expected as customers?
Observing the Challenged Shopper
-
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
-
Can retailers`understand the recommendations of compliance?
-
What are the assumptions of retail planners?
-
How can retailers learn how to understand the needs of challenged shoppers?
-
49 million disabled persons in U.S.- various types of challenges – 20 percent
of the U.S. population
Challenged Shoppers want to be treated as Shoppers First
-
Adaptations of retail space
-
Assistance of well-trained support staff
-
Accessible, well-maintained, equipment which matches shopping activities
-
Title III: accessibility of public accommodations, such as restaurants,
movie theaters, retail stores,
-
Compliance is difficult to translate into action - e.g. concert halls and
sports stadium
The Key Concept of Continuous Sequence
-
“Barrier-free” cannot be investigated in isolation
-
Activities must be considered by order, level of interaction, and transition
among activities - a sequential approach
-
ADA compliance regulations discuss these issues one at a time: e.g.
recommendations for doors, for ramps, etc.
Phase I: Simulation
-
Field study of real-life frustrations of challenged shoppers
-
Upper-level undergraduate student teams enrolled in Retail Marketing Class
-
Simulation of mobility impairments: wheelchairs, walkers, crutches,
leg braces, and motorized carts
Shopping Trips
-
At least four stores, including a grocery store, and at least one infrastructure,
such as a telephone, restroom, or ATM
-
Emergent design: there is no standard pattern for imitating and/or
studying the experience of challenged shoppers
-
Recorded in multiple media: photographs, videos, sketches, logs of
perceptions and feelings
-
Emphasis on discrepancy
Shopping Doesn’t Make the Grade: A Poorly-Planned Pathway
-
The continuous sequence of ramps and doors is often not coordinated
-
“Pathway into the store” - often described in each part of the pathway
-
Students found steep ramps with doors opening backwards, forcing the wheelchair
user to balance precariously on the doorway edge
Access Equipment: Condition, Location, and Convenience
-
Comparison of shopper bringing own equipment vs. shopper who plans to borrow
store equipment
-
Mixed findings:
-
Excellent equipment in convenient locations
-
Equipment stored in inaccessible corners, behind automatic doors
-
Poorly-kept equipment, often piled with merchandise
Inaccessible Merchandise and “Overhead” Displays
-
Aisles blocked by pallets, merchandise, boxes, high step ladders
-
Displays must be moved in order to get through
-
Merchandise required reaching, bending, lifting ... all inaccessible
-
Displays, mirrors, and information placed overhead
-
Vending machines with overhead coin slots
“Fitting in” the Fitting Room ... and Getting Out Again
-
Often located in back of store
-
Often locked requiring searching for personnel
-
Often crowded with stored merchandise, boxes, etc.
-
Wall hooks placed too high
-
Little or no room to turn around; chairs and carts become stuck
Phase II: Accompanying Challenged Shoppers
-
Upper-level undergraduate student teams enrolled in Retail Marketing Class
-
Actual observations of real-life shopping problems as experienced by a
challenged shopper
-
Both “visible” and “invisible” challenges: Accident injuries, Cerebral
Palsy, Spina Bifida, Epilepsy
What do we assume about shoppers?
-
Average, able-bodied shoppers
-
That they have a choice of stores and that they can get to our stores
without difficulty
-
That we will “notice” if they are challenged
-
That they have access to merchandise & displays
-
That they can reach things which persons of average “height” can reach
-
They enter the store on foot, can see and hear clearly, can lift and carry
products through the store, and are able to use conventional shopping carts
and baskets
It Only Takes a Problem in Part of the Process ...
-
Gaining information on mass transit may be difficult
-
Parking and access may be blocked; parking spaces too narrow for van lifts
-
Rainy entrances may be slippery; curb cuts may fill with water
-
Problems can be product-specific: Types of merchandise may be impossible
to evaluate in store: e.g. bathing suits
-
Personnel may be insensitive
Decorations and Displays Can Be Dangerous
-
Strobe lighting is dangerous to those with seizure disorders
-
Colors may be inaccessible to those with color-vision deficiencies
-
Displays which spill over into aisles may trip customers on crutches; may
block customers in wheelchairs and carts
-
Displays may make lifting necessary; many cannot lift items from overhead
or from below waist-level
Many Stores Send their Customers Away because . . .
-
Doors are too heavy to be opened
-
Doorways are too narrow for wheelchair access
-
Retail aisle space is used a display for excess merchandise
-
Handicapped fitting rooms are used as storage
-
Wheelchairs and motorized carts are dirty and unobtainable
Myths and Realities
-
Critics claim substantial costs to retailers to gain compliance, without
analyzing what accommodations are like from the perspective of the challenged
shopper
-
Accommodations can benefit all customers and employees alike
-
The ADA is often not implemented because it is not understood
-
Overly-technical regulations difficult to translate into operational compliance
-
Lack of interest due to “insufficient” numbers of challenged customers
The Needs of Disabled Shoppers are the Needs of Many Shoppers
Some equipment, such as automatic doors, benefit other customers, such
as parents with small children and older shoppers
Universal design improves life for all consumers
And What About the Invisible Disabled Shoppers?
Many persons have a limitation in a life ability which is unseen
They are often insulted and ridiculed, since they may “look” as if
no disability exists. Their needs may go unaddressed.
Benches for resting needed by invisible disabled, such as those with
asthma, back problems, and epilepsy
Phase III: What Do the Retailers Say?
-
Designed to uncover and examine reasons for noncompliance
-
Designed to develop ideas for inexpensive, more easily-understandable methods
of creating user-friendly shopping environments
-
We wanted to find out if retailers could answer: “What does
the ADA mean to my own business?”
-
What did the Retailers Know?
-
16/22 had some knowledge; “ADA allows disabled people to have access.”
-
64% had policies to assist the disabled; they spoke in terms of parking
and ramps
-
They did not translate the accessibility in terms of their own stores
-
Less than half referred to automatic doors, low counters, or periodic checks
to keep walkways clear
Reactive Responses vs. A Predictable Shopping Experience
-
Assisted disabled customers “when they needed it”, when they ask, when
they point out a problem
-
ADA requires us to “treat customers with respect”
-
Disabled shoppers want to be treated like “everyone else” without needing
to ask for help
What is Really Wanted is ...
-
To have a set of expectations about successful patronage: no surprises!
-
To be able to enter stores without getting stuck
-
To be able to trust that the elevator or escalator is working every time
-
To shop without embarassment
-
To shop without having to travel farther than everyone else
-
To be able to get a drink, use the restroom, wash and dry their hands,
rest if they get tired, sit with their friends, look into mirrors, try
on clothes, and get their purchases to and through the checkout
And There’s More . . .
-
To be spoken to directly
-
To be treated as a valued customer, rather than as a problem to be solved
-
To encounter employees who have received training in accommodations
Notice That Many of These Wants Are Cost-Free
-
The items on the chart are what customers expect in a predictable shopping
environment
-
Retailers need to examine how each issue is addressed in their particular
stores:
-
e.g. Do my customers have to travel farther? Why?
-
Do my employees know how to speak to disabled customers?
Low-Cost, High-Impact Accommodations
-
If shelves and counters cannot be lowered:
-
Post signs and call buttons to summon assistance
-
Try vertical placement rather than eye-level
-
If ramps are too steep and doors are too heavy, but cannot be changed:
-
Call buttons for assistance
-
Railings and skid-strips can be installed; monitor drainage
-
Modify height, angle of door handles
More Ideas . . .
-
If crowdedness is a barrier
-
Establish preferred shopper times during less crowded hours
-
Aisle-displays are hazardous for all customers!
-
Post hours for inventory restocking
-
If mobility aids are stored “in the back”
-
Identify a spot in front, or place call button for access
Limit Expense and Maximize Cost-Effectiveness of Accommodations
-
Reusable Aids: large-print and Braille shopping information, menus, bills,
deli lists, store maps. . .
-
Clipboards to shoppers in wheelchairs, for signing charge slips
-
Audio-enhanced recordings of store information
-
Names of color information for color-blind shoppers
-
Communication media must match the customer’s communication style; post
hours for sign-language interpreter
And the Good News is . . . Accommodation is No Surprise!
-
Retailers can implement low-cost, high impact accommodations which involve
simple readjustments of their existing policies
-
Do not see customers as “victims”
-
Ask: What are the unmet needs of people with certain challenges?
-
A no-surprise, high-respect environment can be achieved through minimal
expense by many retailers