The Access Chain
Think Links
Access is a chain of events that begins with the decision to visit and
ends with the visitor’s safe return home. Many access improvements
that have little impact on visitor numbers, do so because they have been
made in a piecemeal way with no regard to this chain of events. For instance,
a new accessible visitor centre may fail to improve visitor numbers if
there is no accessible car parking nearby, and it has not been promoted
in the right way to the right people. No improvement should ever be made
in isolation. Think links.
The Access Chain has been developed by the Sensory Trust, to simplify
the process of joining up access work. By thinking of access as a chain
of events, it becomes apparent that failing to provide for every link
in the visitor experience can mean that the visit may end with the visitor
feeling frustrated, or, more likely, the visit may not happen at all.
The Access Chain describes access as it is experienced from a visitor’s
perspective. It is not a model for the order in which improvements should
be undertaken. For instance, there may be little to gain from improving
public transport links to a site that is completely inaccessible. Typically,
improvements to each link in the chain will be made concurrently. For
instance, transport improvements can be negotiated and planned while site
improvements are underway. This is particularly true of pre-visit information,
which can be used to keep visitors up to date with improvements to the
site and to transport as they happen.
Page 1 | 2
| 3 | 4
| 5 | 6
| 7 | 8
|