Blog: Inclusive communications is about people, not just disabled people
The English Federation of Disability Sport (EFDS) website features a blog post every Friday through the year.
May's theme is communications. In the first blog of the month Sarah Marl, Marketing and Communications Manager at EFDS, discusses how inclusive communications helps those in sport and physical activity to reach more people, especially disabled people.
Sarah's blog:
It’s easy to believe that our work in this area is just about disabled people. Of course, disabled people are a key audience, but inclusive and accessible communications is about reaching more people, not just disabled people.
We’ve been working hard over the last year at the English Federation of Disability Sport (EFDS) to share the benefits of inclusive and accessible marketing communications.
Whether delivering workshops for various National Governing Bodies of sport and County Sports Partnerships, or giving bespoke advice on particular strategies, EFDS encourages all organisations to embed inclusion in the planning process.
My starting point in any workshop is to ask who among the group is responsible for communications. The answer is simple - we all are! The words we write, the images we use, the websites and posters we design- they all play a part in encouraging more people to be active.
The sport and physical activity sector is full of leaflets available to download as PDF documents, but are those PDFs readable by screenreaders? Is the content on our posters easy to read and engaging to those who want to take up sport for the first time?
Being so passionate about inclusive communications has had a profound effect on my thinking nowadays. So much so, that I can’t look at or read any form of marketing communications without thinking about inclusion and accessibility. But it’s a good problem, and something not thought about as much as it really should be in our modern world.
We all have busy lives. Whether working long hours, looking after our family or even trying to fit in what we love doing the most. During the time we are awake, every day, thousands of messages are thrown at us to entice us to buy, do, avoid, play and so on. Think about the number we all see in sport and physical activity.
Now, imagine if you have barriers to those messages (you most probably do) or quite simply think- they’re not considering me, so it’s obviously not for me.
Despite the advances in technology, there are still a number of different factors that can prevent groups of people or individuals from receiving communications. So we as marketing professionals are potentially missing out- missing out on people and for some organisations- profits.
EFDS is dedicated to disabled people in sport and physical activity and exists to make active lives possible. With approximately 11 million disabled people in the UK (one in five of our population), disabled people are a large proportion of your potential audience.
We know from Sport England’s Active People Survey that disabled people are half as likely to be active as non-disabled people. Marketing has an active role in changing the behaviours of disabled people as well as towards disabled people.
As with any other large group, there can be no one-size-fits-all approach to how or what is communicated with disabled people. The way in which some disabled people access communications may be different to non-disabled people. And people with different impairments have different needs or experience different barriers to accessing information.
Through various EFDS research studies, findings also show there is a clear need to boost realistic and positive representation of disabled people across all sectors and channels.
To reach more people and help us to prepare better for the messages, design, channels, feedback and budgets, we need to think about the wider audience’s communication needs a little more in our planning for resources, campaigns, websites etc.
An after-thought in communications can also mean bad PR, more money spent, or loss of custom.
In April 2014, EFDS produced a guide to inclusive communications. Written in partnership with Big Voice Communications, it supports providers to reach a wider audience, including more disabled people.
It aims to address the main communication barriers that many people experience in sport and physical activity, which also stop disabled people from accessing some opportunities. But in concept, the principles of inclusive communications work for everyone, whatever sector you work in.
As well as providing essential better practice guidance on planning, terminology and language, the guide explains the purpose of accessible formats and shows how providers can get the best from their communications. Over 1,400 people have already downloaded it and EFDS hopes it enables more people to understand and benefit from inclusive communications.
A few weeks ago, we were proud to announce that the guide has been shortlisted for the Best Diversity Resource at the Excellence in Diversity Awards 2015. The Inclusive Communications guide is among a strong list of contenders for the ceremony on 14 May. Many organisations from various sectors nominated the guide, so fingers crossed!
As much as I, in my profession, will have thoughts about your organisation’s font choice, websites and perhaps even your tweets, I’m among the vast amount of people we communicate with every day who also analyse your choices.
In marketing we can all support more people, especially those with specific communication requirements, to access our opportunities. If communication remains a barrier for people who want to be more active, ensuring our marketing plans capture everyone within them, will no doubt have more positive outcomes in participation.
Download the inclusive communications guide here. Other formats are available. Please contact Sarah Marl, Marketing and Communications Manager or call 07764 291671 to find out more about EFDS’s work in sport and physical activity.
