Accessibility card scheme connects businesses with thousands of 'forgotten' customers

Monday, 19 December 2022

Loudon Keir with a Hāpai access card, a scheme which links people with accessibility needs to the businesses which welcome them.

It’s not about being politically correct – the people behind an accessibility scheme says businesses are missing out on the patronage of tens of thousands of people.

Hāpai access card founder Loudon Keir says in Canterbury alone there are over 90,000 people with accessibility needs.

Among them are people who are reluctant to go to cafes or entertainment venues with their friends and whānau for fear of being turned away or receiving poor service, he said.

Through the scheme – which celebrated two years in December – people with accessibility needs are linked to businesses which will accommodate them.

Christchurch woman Michelle Gillett is grateful for her Hāpai Access Card which lets disabled people know which businesses are accessible, as well as giving them a discount. (First published June 28, 2022.)

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Reflecting on two years, during which time around 100 businesses across Aotearoa have registered, Keir said the Christchurch-based group could work much faster if it had more funding.

Eddie Low with Hapai chairperson Bob Shearing, executive director Susan Jackman and access card volunteer Duncan MacLachlan.

The charitable business is still mostly run by volunteers, and Keir said he was often only paid half the hours he works in a week, at living wage.

The scheme gains income from card users and grants, but Keir said it had been difficult getting enough to keep running while remaining committed to making services free for businesses.

To charge businesses to become certifiably accessible, he said, wasn’t realistic, but the scheme was important to keep alive because in the “practical world” there was little to no guidance on what accessibility even meant, let alone what it looked like in practice.

“We approach businesses as a business. It’s a coalition of the willing,” Keir said.

Some businesses confessed they hadn’t engaged with the disability community out of fear of saying or doing the wrong thing, Keir said.

“It’s about having the discussion of how to create space or give alternatives.”

Scheme co-leader Susan Jackman said: “Businesses want to do more but don’t know how.

“People with disabilities have rights … reasonable accommodations must be made, but ‘reasonable’ isn’t defined.

“Their port of call is the Human Rights Commission, but it doesn’t go to court and get tried and tested.”

Businesses on the scheme’s register are trained to accommodate the needs of cardholders, such as how to be welcoming to people in wheelchairs and the sensory needs of someone with autism.

The scheme is based on a consultancy company in the UK which also has an access card.