With over 21 billion dollars in discretionary spending power, the disabled community can provide you with a lot of additional revenue. By catering to this community, you also attract those who assist the disabled and their family and friends.
There are a few things to consider when enticing this demographic to your facility. First, how accessible is your facility? Do you have ramps or appropriate signage? How about lifts to get someone into and out of the pool? Do you have fitness equipment designed for people with disabilities in mind? If you are unsure of how your facility might stack up, it would benefit you to enlist the advice of an ADA consultant to find out how your facility ranks and how you can improve it.
Secondly, an important strategy in addressing this market is hiring someone with disabilities who brings with them ideas about products, programming and services designed for this particular demographic. This can give your facility a distinct advantage over others. Furthermore, as you attract more patrons from this demographic, they too will often have their own ideas and advice on how to improve your facility and its programming. Also, as an added bonus, they often bring their friends and can be very loyal patrons.
When considering modifications to your facility, keep in mind many of the modifications made can also benefit those of a certain age. Handrails, lifts, large signage, etc. can provide a lot of benefit for your older patrons. Statistics show between 2000 and 2030, the number of people 65 and older will more than double to over 70 million. Additionally, more than seven out of 10 Americans will acquire some sort of disability by the time they reach age 75.
In short, inclusivity benefits you and your patrons by providing additional services, programming and equipment that directly relates to improved revenues, attendance and loyalty.
