WheelchairSteve helps firms build up profits

Oct 21 2008 by Karen Dent, The Journal

A WHEELCHAIR user is drawing on his own experiences to educate companies about how disability law affects them and how becoming more accessible can help them improve profits.

Steve Wilkinson, who was born with spina bifida, named his new venture WheelchairSteve after his nickname. His business mission is to stop companies breaking disability laws and to help them attract more special-needs customers at the same time. Steve, of Kingston Park, Newcastle, recently featured on BBC programme The Politics Show, where he visited bars and restaurants to find out what facilities they had for disabled people.

“WheelchairSteve is all about educating businesses to appreciate the issues disabled people face on a daily basis and to help improve the company’s customer service skills,” he said.

“By doing this, everybody wins, both from a disabled person’s perspective and financially from the businesses’ point of view.”

Steve says he has found that once a business is more accessible, it can boost sales. The UK’s 10 million disabled people have an annual spending power of £80bn, according to Government figures. “I’ve noticed that simple adjustments to shop fronts, such as fitting a door bell for disabled people to ask for assistance, can make a real difference to people with disabilities. It can also be a deciding factor on where we spend our money,” said Steve.

“I don’t want people to think that I am the guy with the big stick making businesses change their offices or shops. What I do is more like putting an arm around a business and guiding them to make the right choice for their own circumstances.

“In many cases, this also leads to an increase in business for the company concerned.”