Improving experiences for those with physical disabilities and learning difficulties

Proud to be a member of the Heathrow Access Advisory Group

Imagine interacting with your business when the words on your signage mean nothing, where barriers and dangers lurk everywhere and the whole experience is scary, daunting and angst-ridden.

Our first-hand experience of disabilities and our customer experience frameworks mean not only can we help you understand what it’s really like to do business with your brand but we can show you why and how it should be different.

Organisations who show genuine empathy with those who interact with the world in different ways are not only doing the right thing, but by stretching the thinking they will improve all other customer experiences too. After all, we often want the same core experience; for it to be quick, easy, reliable and no surprises.

And we know that better experiences mean more customers coming back more often, spending more and telling others to do the same; a direct and positive impact on commercial results.

It’s a subject close to my heart. I’ll declare an interest, being a proud parent of a child with a severe learning disability. I’m a member of Heathrow’s Access Advisory Committee and a past chairman of the Board of Governors at a Special Needs school.

I therefore have some appreciation of how alien a typical customer experience can be for people who see the world differently and who interact with it in a different way.  I wrote a blog recently trying to get the aviation sector to broaden its disability thinking beyond providing wheelchairs and putting in ramps. I’d love to know what you think.

On the flip-side, I have also seen the consequences for balance sheets where people and experiences are empathetic.  I wrote a blog on the subject of differentiated thinking for different people and on what companies are doing (or not as the case may be).  The importance of empathy in this Customer Experience context was behind me calling the company Empathyce.

If you are looking at ways to improve your thinking about customers experiences for those with a disability I’d be delighted to see if I can help – call me on +44 (0) 7917 718072 or email jerryangrave @ empathyce.com.  

In the meantime, if you want to share your thoughts I have a group on LinkedIn specifically about improving customer experiences for those with disabilities and special needs.  Please join and share your thoughts.