Customer service ‘biggest barrier to unlocking disabled market’

That was the message for this year's Purple Tuesday, which looks at improving the customer experience for disabled people.

Now in its fifth year, Purple Tuesday was celebrated with a drop-in lunch at the Chamber of Commerce for traders and businesses to learn more about how they can gain their share of the ‘purple pound’.

Guernsey Disability Association partnership director Karen Blanchford said were 13,500 people with a disability in Guernsey and 500 more carers.

‘That’s a lot of spending power,’ she said.

‘The purple pound in Guernsey alone is calculated at £2.74m. And the great thing is disabled customers are incredibly loyal and will keep coming back. The biggest barriers are not physical but customer service.

'For example speaking to a person accompanying, not to the person with the disability. Most of the changes business need to make are free or just require a little training.’

Mrs Blanchford said there were good examples in Guernsey of how a little change has attracted repeat custom.

‘Take Barber Jay, they have fabulous customer service and will make small adjustments depending on a customer's need.

'Simple things like turning music down in advance for customers with autism.’

Purple Tuesday encourages businesses to consider making themselves more accessible online too.

Don Lowe from website designers Submarine explained how simple changes can attract customers.

‘Its all about accessibility,' he said. ‘Making sure font sizes and colour contrasts work for everyone and that apps and websites work across all devices. A good example is with screen reader support, often used by the partially sighted. It’s an app that essentially reads what’s on a website, and poor design can really hinder it. Changes like captioning pictures and using capitals in each word in a hashtag makes it work.’

This was the first Purple Tuesday since the introduction of Guernsey’s disability law in September and Mrs Blanchford has seen an uptake in applications for CAE courses which develop understanding of the practicalities of access improvements,with the next two courses already fully booked.

Mrs Blanchford felt the States debate had seen a lot of alarmism about changes businesses would have to make.

‘Unfortunately during the consultation, lead up and the discrimination legislation debate, there was significant scaremongering about reasonable adjustments and other opportunities to improve customer service for persons with disabilities. We have found once organisations engage with partners, that fear is greatly reduced.’