O3e Talks: Inclusive Team Building

Last year, we got to wondering why, out of the 17,000 or so people that had taken part in one of our Charity Inspired Team Building Challenges, so very few had identified as being disabled or informed us of extra access needs or support.

After all, the latest government statistics suggest there are approximately 3.1 million disabled people in the UK workforce. This is around 9% of the total workforce, so we should realistically have met around 1.5k people with disabilities. This most certainly hasn’t been our reality. I honestly think we could count the total on one hand!

So, what’s been happening? Do companies assume the team building event won’t be suitable for employees with disabilities? Are people with disabilities uncomfortable stating their needs? Are the Government statistics wrong?!

Whatever is happening, we wanted to know if our events were inclusive. We had assumed they were – but what if we were wrong? You know what they say about the word ‘assume’! If we were falling short in any areas, we most certainly wanted to know!

And - if our events were already awesomely inclusive – then why on earth aren’t we telling people?!

So, last summer, we teamed up with the disability charity Poss’Ability People in Brighton. They put our Charity Bike Build event through a vigorous inclusion test.

They tested our event for disability inclusion, specifically considering disabilities such as physical disabilities, learning disabilities, visual impairments and auditory impairments.

Working with Poss’Ability, we ran our challenge exactly as we always run it, allowing them to accurately assess where and how we were already inclusive and if and where changes might be required to improve the experience for everyone.

Well, what an amazing few hours for all of us. We can honestly say, it was

“One of the most human experiences we have ever had”

But, what did we learn?

Well, the really great news is that our assumption was right! Our Charity Bike Build event was already very inclusive.

Our biggest issue, is that we don’t talk about that fact when we market our events or when we liaise with our clients!

Working with Poss’Ability, and taking all of the learnings from our test run, we’ve pulled together a fantastic check list, to help anyone running an event to be as inclusive as possible. This check list is now part of our staff induction and training too.

But we don’t want to keep this information to ourselves! No-way! Please share far and wide. Sometimes there really is the most-simplest of tweaks required, in a process to make your experience fully inclusive.

While this check-list is specific to our Charity Bike Build event, it can easily be tweaked to support your own work:

Inclusion Checklist

1. Ask attendees if they have any extra access or support needs when they book on to the challenges. By having this knowledge before-hand you can discuss individual requirements.

2. Be prepared to be able to provide an extra person to support someone if needed.

3. Be very clear with communication, for example, do not refer to objects by two different names.

4. Fully describe the entire process to someone with a visual impairment so that they understand what is happening. Allow time for questions.

5. A blind or visually impaired person may need hand guidance, please always seek permission before guiding hands.

6. Be prepared to provide a hearing loop and ensure that these are clearly signposted and that activities happen within it for people who are deaf / hard of hearing.

7. Provide written instructions on tablets with screen readers for those who need it.

8. Make sure all areas are accessible, you may need to adapt your space and your equipment to make this happen. For example. Ensure that there is enough space to move around for a wheelchair user, or that tables an equipment are at the right height for everyone.

9. Use a venue that has an accessible toilet and is fully accessible.

10. Be prepared to need extra time to help explain a method for those that may need it, such as people with a visual impairment or someone who is Deaf and is using a BSL interpreter.

11. Let potential customers know in advance promotional material or on the website that you can provide extra access support, how your activities are accessible and that you can provide extra time for those that may need it.

12. Ensure Staff are aware of this check list and guidelines.

Hopefully you’re now nodding your head, with ‘of course!’ ‘this is obvious!’ and thinking about how you can tweak your corner of the world to be more inclusive.

So, what now for O3e? Well, we intend to make the inclusive style of our events well known and to share our learnings far and wide. You can help us with that, through sharing on social media. We will also be updating our website and brochures to ensure our clients are aware.

We’ll leave you with this cartoon, which really resonated with us……

If you shovel the ramp…….

#Disability #Inclusion