Article

How improving accessibility can boost the bottom line

Businesses can open their doors to thousands more customers by offering tools to assist people with language impairments
By
Josh Martin
Institution(s)
University of Windsor
Province(s)
Ontario
Topic(s)
Rehabilitation
A fractured view of people in a public space

For the thousands of Ontarians living with aphasia — a language disorder that impairs the ability to communicate — something as simple as buying a movie ticket can be a real struggle. However, thanks to training from Aphasia Friendly Canada, 20 businesses — and counting — in Windsor and Essex County in southwestern Ontario are better equipped to serve them.

That includes Lakeshore Cinemas near Tecumseh, Ont. “[This training has] provided [my staff] with more tools to handle those communication challenges with confidence,” says assistant manager Chelsea Reaume. “We’ve had a lot of compliments on our customer service.”

“If you have aphasia and you need to go get your hair cut, you’re more likely to go to a place that’s aphasia-friendly.”

Developed by Lori Buchanan and a team of researchers at the University of Windsor, the program educates businesses about aphasia and develops resources, such as “YES/NO” cards and modified menus, to make accessing services easier for people with language impairments.

Under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, all businesses in the province will need to be aphasia-friendly by 2025, but for Buchanan, improving accessibility also just makes good business sense. “If you have aphasia and you need to go get your hair cut, you’re more likely to go to a place that’s aphasia-friendly,” she says. “If you want coffee, you’re going to go to the aphasia-friendly Tim Hortons.”

Related Stories

Rachel Barre teaching a dance class to Parkinson's patients.
article
Ontario

Boosting brainpower at the barre

Researchers are learning how the unique combination of music and movement provided by learning dance can improve both the mental and physical health of Parkinson’s patients
A large quantity of Monarch butterflies
article

Thinking quantitatively

Researchers at the University of British Columbia want to understand how our brains process quantity and language to inform how we teach young people about numbers, from the time they learn to count
podcast
Quebec

How using sound to treat disease is music to one researcher’s ears

Simone Dalla Bella of Montréal’s International Laboratory for Brain, Music, and Sound Research asks “How can music help us in our daily tasks? And how can it slow down the deleterious effects of diseases such as Parkinson’s?”