Accessibility
Access all areas: how many attendees are you excluding?
PLANETPLANIT’ S PAUL COOK TALKS ACCESSIBILITY, LEGISLATION, THE EU AND THE IMPORTANCE OF VENUE AUDITS
I have yet to find a venue or events professional who doesn’ t want their attendees, stakeholders, and other folks to have a great time at their events. Everyone planning events is driven in large part by how they want their attendees to feel.
If the meetings and events industry wants everyone to have a great time, why does it feel we’ re excluding certain people? The number of people who have a disability or condition of some kind is staggering. According to the World Health Organisation, an estimated 1.3 billion people experience significant disability. This represents 16 % of the world’ s population or one in six of us.
People will not be coming to your events unless you make them feel welcome from the outset, and that starts with the language you use in your communications and how you design registration forms, websites, and more. All of which is in your control. You don’ t need legislation to require you to do these things, it’ s just common sense. But you have to put your personal experiences aside if you want to help everyone feel included.
However, accessibility legislation appears to help drive some organisations forward. According to Sammy Connell at the Association of British PCOs,“ Whilst there has been much development in this area and we have real trailblazers driving meaningful change, some are lagging behind, and having legislation such as the European Accessibility Act is good because it provides a clear framework and requires accountability. It helps to ensure that accessibility is not seen as optional but as a fundamental requirement.”
Accessibility legislation is already in place in various countries around the world. For example, in the USA, there is the Americans with Disabilities Act( ADA) looking after accessible issues.
However, while countries have their own legislation when events happen on their soil, the European Accessibility Act will impact planners who want to host events in the European Union, regardless of where they are based, so you will need to comply with the regulation.
The European Accessibility Act( EAA) becomes law on 28 June 2025, and it’ s likely to have a big impact on the meetings and events industry.
The Act aims to align the European Union member states, requiring them to ensure uniform accessibility standards. What’ s interesting is that member states can set their own levels of fines and penalties for noncompliance. It’ s clear from this that some countries take a harsher view on non-compliance with accessibility requirements than others. This is also the case worldwide, with politicians and business leaders deciding how far they want to go regarding accessibility regulation.
The EAA requires products and services to be designed to be accessible to people with disabilities. Some key areas impacting meetings and events
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