Barriers to access

Barriers can be physical, like buildings not having accessible toilets. Or they can be caused by people’s attitudes to difference, like assuming disabled people can’t do certain things. Removing these barriers creates equality for everyone.

Barriers can include:

• Physical – aspects of your buildings or outdoor space that create barriers e.g doorways not wide enough for wheelchairs. 
• Sensory – your building and information you provide is not accessible for people with a visual or hearing impairment, for example, your website does not provide a page on accessible access.
• Intellectual – children, people with learning difficulties, people who are mentally ill, people with limited background knowledge or understanding of your site or of the heritage in general.
• Social and cultural – the relevance of your exhibitions and publicity material to your community may influence the extent to which people from a range of social and cultural backgrounds visit your site.
• Financial – cost of travel, entry charges and facilities can all inhibit individuals and groups from visiting your site.
• Attitudinal – are behaviours, perceptions, and assumptions that can discriminate against persons with disabilities, for instance, have your front of house been trained to provide a welcome for all.
• Technological – websites, online activities and onsite interactives are not accessible, for example, they cannot be used with an assistive technologies. 

More than one barrier can be experienced by the same person at the same time.