The Access Chain: an inclusive design tool

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.

Inclusive design relies on thinking about all aspects of accessibility. 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.

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For a more concise summary, download our Access Chain summary (pdf 378k). Also available as Access Chain text only version.