Industry
Part of Where five real accessible trips nearly went wrong
How a business can publish an honest accessible trip write-up
How a business can publish an access case study that is worth reading: real measurements, paid contributors, disclosed sponsorship and stated limits.
What to take away
- Publish measurements and what did not work. A case study without a limitation is an advertisement.
- Pay the disabled people who contribute, at your normal contributor rate.
- Disclose every commercial relationship in the piece itself, not in a footer.
- Never trade access for a review, and never publish medical detail you were told in confidence.
Businesses write access case studies for two reasons: to prove they have done the work, or to look as though they have. Readers tell the two apart quickly, and the difference is entirely in what gets published alongside the good news.
What an honest case study contains
- The measurementsdoor widths, thresholds, turning space, bed height, ramp gradient
- The date the visit happened, and who confirmed each figure
- What the visitor could not do, stated plainly
- What has changed since, and what has not
- A named contact for questions
The fourth item is what makes the other four believable. Add the evacuation procedure for a guest who cannot use the stairs, because it is the question travelers are told to ask and almost never get answered.
What an honest case study contains
- Door widths, thresholds, turning space, bed height, ramp gradient
- Date of visit and who confirmed each figure
- What the visitor could not do, stated plainly
- What has changed since, and what has not
- A named contact for questions
- Evacuation procedure for a guest who cannot use stairs
Paying and crediting contributors
If a disabled traveler spends a day documenting your building, that is work: six frames of the bathroom alone, with a tape measure in each. Pay it at the rate you pay any other contributor, and say in the piece that you did.
Consent is separate from payment. Agree in writing what appears, in what form, and for how long, and honour a request to remove it later without argument. Do not publish diagnoses, medication or personal care detail. None of it is anybody's business and none of it improves the article.
Disclosure, in the piece
State the relationship where the reader meets it: whether the visit was hosted, whether anybody was paid, and whether the subject saw the article before publication. A disclosure at the bottom of a page nobody scrolls to is not a disclosure.
If access was provided free in exchange for coverage, the piece is marketing. Label it as such and it can still be useful.
Fixing the building, not the story
Case studies frequently reveal something worth spending money on, and some of that spending has a defined tax treatment for small businesses.
The Internal Revenue Service's page on Form 8826 describes the disabled access credit. Eligible small businesses use it to claim a credit for expenditures made to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Whether a specific piece of work qualifies is a question for your accountant.
Handling the parts you do not control
Some of what a visitor experiences happens off your premises: the airport, the transit stop, the street outside.
Where the complaint belongs elsewhere, say so and point at the right route instead of absorbing it. TSA's statement on civil rights in screening sets out that screening policies and practices must comply with applicable civil rights law and must not discriminate. It also explains how a passenger raises a concern.
Directing a visitor to the correct process helps more than sympathy, and it keeps your own account of the day accurate.
Publishing on a schedule
One case study a year, updated when the building changes, beats five written in a marketing push and left to rot. The five scenarios show the level of detail worth aiming at, and how businesses can help travelers avoid the common mistakes covers the operational side of the same commitment.
