Plan accessible in-person activities
Choose venues that provide an accessible, whole-of-journey experience for people with disability. This includes considering the location, participants’ transport options, and the venue’s features and facilities. Set up the venue, activity spaces, and technology so people with disability can move freely; take breaks; contribute fully; access audio, visual, and text-based information; and concentrate. Remember to prioritise physical, mental, emotional, and cultural safety.
Select accessible venue(s)
The location, features, and layout of the engagement venue can have a huge impact on accessibility. Consider the whole-of-journey experience when selecting a physical location. You should aim to:
- Choose locations that are accessible and meet the national Disability (Access to Premises – Buildings) Standards 2010. Examples include having accessible bathrooms, ramps, handrails, even flooring, clear signage, hearing loops, and different types of seating.
- Reflect on how you will use the space. Think about what you want or expect participants to do in the venue.
- Examine physical accessibility beyond compliance with building accessibility legislation. For example, ask about the type of seating available, the levels of ventilation and noise, the availability of technical support (such as microphones), whether there is a guided entry to required spaces, and whether the venue has Changing Places facilities.
- Identify available transport options.
- Visit the space and confirm its suitability before you book it. When in doubt, check with participants about what they need. Inspect potential venues with these three considerations in mind:
- how to get to and from the venue
- where the venue is located
- the venue’s features and facilities.
- Engage a disability access consultant or accessibility auditor if you need additional advice or expertise.
Relevant pages
Changing Places website (Changing Places)
Frequently asked questions: access to premises (Australian Human Rights Commission [AHRC])
The venue’s space
When choosing a venue, consider how its space will affect the experience of your participants. Are you expecting participants to:
- move around a single space, like a room?
- move between spaces, such as between exhibition rooms or around a campus?
- present to others?
- view visual content, such as posters, presentation slides, or videos?
- listen to presentations or announcements?
- talk to other participants?
- write or draw?
- stay in one spot for a long time?
- concentrate deeply?
- speak at once? (Will it get loud?)
- be in one room for a long period? (Will the sound and air quality be appropriate?)
The venue’s transport options
Think about how participants will get to and from the venue. Consider:
- Transport options: which options are nearby and are they accessible? Can participants safely and comfortably arrive and leave at times that suit them and match the public transport schedule?
- Parking: is there parking nearby? Is there enough accessible parking? How far away is parking from the venue? How likely are participants to get a car park? How much does parking cost?
- Drop-off zones: can participants be dropped off by a car close to the venue?
- Paths leading to the entrance: are paths bumpy, blocked, uphill, or easily accessible? Are there paths near public transport, parking, and drop-off areas?
The venue’s location
Where is the venue is located? What else is in the surrounding area? Consider:
- Will participants feel comfortable and safe attending an engagement here? Is this location culturally appropriate?
- Is there a park or space nearby for participants with support animals to use?
- Is there a variety of food options nearby if your activity is half a day or longer and you are not providing catering?
The venue’s features and facilities
When you inspect the venue and its facilities to ensure it is a good fit for your engagement, consider:
- Are participants able to enter the venue easily? Are there any barriers to entry? These could include stairs, slopes, heavy or narrow doors, unstable or sloped ground, and high thresholds.
- Are participants able to access all areas that will be used? This includes rooms, corridors, doorways, and stages.
- Will participants be able to comfortably move around the venue? This includes features like wide corridors; brightly lit areas; stable, flat and even ground; open spaces; and handrails on stairs.
- Are there accessible toilets? Can participants get to them easily and independently? If a participant must navigate stairs or other barriers to access the toilets, they are not accessible. Consider hosting your activity at a venue with a Changing Places bathroom or hiring a portable Changing Places toilet for your event.
- Is there lots of noise at the venue? Will participants be disturbed by noise?
Relevant pages
Plan: Meet people’s accessibility needs
Hosting accessible and inclusive in-person meetings and events (IncludeAbility, AHRC)
Creating an accessible and inclusive workplace (IncludeAbility, AHRC)
Event accessibility guidelines (Brisbane City Council)
Find a Changing Places toilet (Changing Places)
Ensure participant safety
Prioritise the physical, mental, and cultural safety of participants.
- Follow your organisation’s and the venue’s safety procedures.
- Provide safety information in multiple formats suited to the accessibility needs of participants.
- Follow cultural protocols and processes.
- Prepare emergency evacuation plans for the number of people and the people with disability participating.
- Provide information about and options for accessible food and catering.
- Consider setting up a low-sensory space.
The venue’s emergency evacuation protocols
To prepare for an emergency or evacuation situation:
- Make sure you can evacuate everyone. This is particularly important for people who use mobility devices.
- Examine your chosen venue’s existing emergency evacuation procedures. In particular, identify the procedures they have in place to support people with disability.
- Plan how you will provide support to everyone.
- Ensure facilitators and venue staff are aware of what support they may need to provide in case of emergency, and how they can provide it. This includes the operation of any evacuation devices or equipment.
- Find out if participants have personal emergency evacuation plans.
- Determine how many people would require assistance in an emergency.
Relevant pages
Plan: Meet people’s accessibility needs
Plan: Give clear information in advance
What matters to customers with disability? Emergency evacuation (Australia’s Network on Disability)
Emergency plans fact sheet (Safe Work Australia)
Evacuation plans for employees with disability (Job Access)
Planning for evacuation (Disability Access Consultants)
Guide for assisting individuals with disabilities in an emergency (Stanford University Diversity)
Food and catering options
Food helps people ensure they have enough energy to concentrate and participate fully in your activity. When meeting in-person, you should tell people about the catering or their food options if you are not providing catering. This helps people make informed decisions about the options they have available. To make sure people can get food easily and safely you should:
- Tell people whether you will provide food.
- Ensure breaks provide enough time for all participants to get and consume food and drinks.
- Identify nearby food options and their accessible routes.
- Have team members available to support anyone who asks for help getting food.
- Ask people to share their dietary requirements before the activity.
- If possible, provide a variety of food that can be eaten by people on restricted diets and without cutlery.
- Provide individual portions so people can access their food without using shared utensils.
- Clearly mark food that may contain gluten, nuts, meat products, dairy, sugar, and other restrictions people tell you about.
- Prevent cross-contamination of allergens. This could include providing serving utensils for each dish, placing allergen-free options away from items they could be mistaken for, and providing separate appliances for allergen-free options, such as toasters for gluten-free bread.
- Make it easy to get to and from the food area. Participants should be able to move between furniture, through the room, and across the catering area easily.
- Provide easily reachable foods, drinks, snack options, and cutlery (including drinking straws). Some considerations include placing tables at accessible heights, leaving snacks on tables, or bringing food to people. Take special care to place hot food or drinks at accessible heights to prevent harmful spills.
- Provide clear and accessible information about catering options in similar formats to other event information and materials you provide.
Low-sensory spaces
Low-sensory spaces, also known as quiet rooms or sensory spaces, are rooms designed to provide minimal sensory input and to help people reduce sensory overload.
People use low-sensory spaces when their senses are overwhelmed by the sights, sounds, smells, sensations, or people around them. Being in a calming environment can help a participant to relax, take a break, and return to the activity when they’re ready.
You can tailor your low-sensory space to the activity and needs of participants.
Low-sensory spaces should have:
- signage directing participants to them
- minimal noise. Quiet is preferred where possible, without background sounds like humming or loud traffic
- dim lighting
- muted colours
- comfortable places to sit, such as cushions, chairs, or sofas
- a comfortable temperature or the ability to adjust the temperature easily
- access to water.
In your low-sensory space, you may also want to include other features like:
- a counsellor, facilitator, or support staff member to assist participants
- activities or distractions for participants
- noise-cancelling headphones
- soft furnishings, such as blankets.
Setting up your venue(s)
After choosing your venue, set it up to maximise accessibility.
- Make sure the physical set up, technical set up, and all accessibility supports are available, working, safe, and ready for use.
- Make sure you show, explain, and have safety information such as emergency evacuation plans available in multiple accessible formats.
- Create plans and strategies to manage issues. Enacting these plans may require additional team members or team members with specialist skills.
- Make required changes to ensure safety and usability.
- Remove items that may be distracting or impact accessibility.
- Identify and address barriers for people with disability throughout the venue.
Relevant pages
Inclusive meetings (Inclusion Australia)
Guidance on premises (Design for Dignity)
Inclusive co-design workshop techniques (Northcott Innovation)
Physical set up
Consider the accessibility of physical places and resources. In particular, consider:
- access to the reception or information desks
- audio and noise levels
- readiness of hearing loops (available and working)
- ramps, lifts, hallways, and transitory spaces
- technology that you or participants will need to use or operate
- layouts and floorplans
- light sources, such as projectors, the sun, or blinking lights
- physical obstructions
- scents and smells
- text, such as signage or communications.
Example
You have prepared a physical space for presentations at an all-day symposium on native plant species. The team arranged a seating plan and installed a ramp for speakers at the front. In the afternoon, there will be interactive sessions with all participants collaborating. You and your team spend 15 minutes during the lunch break rearranging the space so everyone has easy access to the group sessions.
Technical set up
You will also need to consider any technology, assistive technology, and digital platform requirements. These may include:
- audio quality, volume, and noise (such as crackling speakers or projector humming)
- captions
- transcription
- hearing loops
- sign up, log in, or viewing settings
- screensharing
- navigation of the tools, technology, or platform
- light sources
- video settings
- camera and display settings
- hosting rights
- breakout rooms
Example
You are running a hybrid event. Some participants are attending in person, while others will attend online via a virtual meeting room.
You send the virtual meeting link to a team member who will have the same view and editing rights as your participants. You join the meeting early with your team member and your accessibility service providers. You check and enable accessibility features, such as the live transcription, hosting rights, and volume.
Your team member and Auslan interpreters are in the same physical location. You notice their background lighting makes the interpreter’s hands harder to see. You let them know and they find a different area that has a solid background and is well lit.
As participants join, you copy images into the chat with instructions on how to enable the accessibility features of the platform. You check-in with participants using the chat and other communication channels.