ADA and Creative Business

Facilitating life for the disabled has cost us a lot of money. We have redesigned the inside and outside of buildings. We've changed doorknobs. And - perhaps most significant of all - we have assigned the best parking places as handicapped-designated spots! Is all of this effort and expense worth it?

It isn't always possible to measure cost and benefits by looking at the obvious. The obvious is the fact that we spent a lot of money putting in curb cuts, lowering ATMs, and repainting parking lots. The obvious is the fact that most of us have to walk farther in parking lots - and this can be really annoying on bad-weather days.

We have also had some fun at the expense of ADA, such as discussing the need for braille signs at drive-up teller windows (just how do blind people drive anyway?) and how to accommodate working dogs who assist their people with seeing and hearing (if we give lollipops to children may we give dog biscuits to working dogs?)

But the adjustment (implementation) period is over and it's time to look at what the ADA has done for us. What has happened as a result of this law? The obvious result is that individuals whose mobility is determined by a wheeled chair are much more able to negotiate street crossings, find a parking space with room to open the vehicle door and set up the chair, and reach the keys on the ATM. People with vision impairments have braille signs and elevator chimes.

Although this is was the literal goal of the American's with Disabilities Act, this is a limited way of measuring the impact of the changes caused by ADA. There are benefits that go far beyond the ability of wheel chair occupants to get places and do things.Take for example parents pushing an infant in a stroller. I used to do that, and it wasn't easy getting up and down those curbs. And stairs were a real trial. Not only was it difficult to get up the stairs with stroller, purse, diaper bag, and whatever else I was toting, it was next to impossible to get up those stairs without dumping the baby. Seatbelts in strollers are a truly marvelous invention.

And how about getting into those narrow stalls in the airport ladies room while keeping luggage in my sight and under my control at all times? The list of barriers for the non-disabled is surprisingly long.

Without curb cuts, I chose not to go certain places with a baby and stroller. It often meant avoiding stores and banks that were located in places difficult to navigate. The ladies rooms were harder to avoid.

Clearly, if you are in the business of drawing in customers, a practice or design that results in customer avoidance of your facility is not a desirable result. So it isn't just the wheel chair navigators that benefit from the curb cuts. Lots of people find life easier - even if we can't use the best parking places.

What else does ADA bring us? ADA pulls us out of our ruts. When we design a product, a service, or a delivery method, we have to think about more than the obvious. ADA gives us some clear tools for doing this - in the form of mandates to accommodate certain people.

But really we should be accommodating the needs of every potential customer, shouldn't we? ADA helps us along - ok, pushes us along - in this process. ADA makes us think about product delivery and accessibility in different and creative ways.

With the Internet and other electronic tools, the possibilities seem limitless. There are mandatory compliance issues, and qualitative service issues. There are presentation and delivery opportunities, including new ways to reach customers and to sell products and services.

It is time to completely rethink how we deliver products and services. It is a very important time to consider how customers see financial institutions and how they want to transact business with them. It is time to be creative. But ever compliance mindful, we also need to be careful and think broadly about consequences.

Copyright © 2001 Compliance Action. Originally appeared in Compliance Action, Vol. 6, No. 10, 9/01