Building inclusive communities where people feel they belong and have a place to call home is a core part of our brand purpose. We commit to equality of access for people with physical disabilities by offering homes with step-free access, private balconies and terraces with level thresholds and accessible parking for blue badge holders across all Get Living neighbourhoods.
This year, we want to extend the level of accessibility we offer to include a digitally accessible website. The more our world becomes digitalised, the more important it becomes to consider the impact of digital inclusivity for a range of individual needs.
Websites that are inaccessible can create barriers for people who are neurodivergent or are visually impaired. To put this into perspective, in 2019 1 in 5 disabled adults worldwide never used the web [Source: Recite Me]. Without accessibility options navigating a website can be stressful, leaving people opting out of digital spaces altogether.
As a provider of homes, our aim is to alleviate as much stress as possible from the searching and living experience. Whether this is through no fees and flexible tenancies or now through digital accessibility. We can only be a champion of a simple, straight-forward way of renting if we are inclusive to all in this journey.
How digital accessibility benefits Get Living operational teams
- People who are neurodivergent or visually impaired can gain answers to crucial questions prior to speaking with a member of our team. These are likely to include initial questions that any person has when looking for a new home
- It eases the pressure you may feel if you cannot offer a person the additional assistance or support they need
- There is opportunity to reduce language barriers. People can express their interest in living with us without having a human interaction
- It reduces the potential risk of excluding entire groups of people from living with us
Improvements to the Get Living website
To improve digital accessibility, we have introduced the Recite Me assistive toolbar onto the Get Living website. The accessibility plug-in offers a range of reading features, customisation options and translation tools. It makes it easier for someone who is neurodivergent, visually impaired or speaks English as a second language to navigate our website. The new toolbar enables people to consume information at a pace most comfortable with them and allows us to welcome a broader range of individuals to be a part of Get Living.
In line with this, we now have an Accessibility page on the website. This page can act as a first-stop destination for anybody searching for answers on this subject. The page has contact information for each neighbourhood so people can talk to a member of our team about how a home in one of our neighbourhoods could be right for them.
By improving our own digital experience to be inclusive to a range of individual needs, we can reduce the anxieties and hurdles people may face. We can give more people the opportunity to learn about Get Living and welcome them into our neighbourhoods and communities.
Feel free to share the Accessibility page and/or the guide to using the Recite Me toolbar with prospective and current residents who express they may require an accessible home, additional digital support or language assistance. The Recite Me accessibility plug-in functions on both desktop and mobile and sits on all webpages of the Get Living website. The global icon for digital accessibility is used to signpost the toolbar. On desktop, this is located in the top right and on mobile it is located within the menu.
If you have additional ideas of how Get Living can push inclusivity and accessibility, please get in touch with the Brand Experience team. Additionally, contact us if you incur any issues with the Recite Me toolbar.
