Creating an inclusive customer experience for everyone

Making small changes to include people with disability is easy and boosts profitability. Find out how with Zero Barriers.

A person who uses a wheelchair sits in a cafe on a sunny day. He has a mocha and is smiling.

Join Zero Barriers

Boost your bottom line and create an inclusive customer experience.

See details

City Business Manager

City Business & Safety Unit

: 02 9265 9333
: [email protected]

1 in 6 Australians, 4.4 million people, have a disability. This huge segment of the population is often overlooked as customers. Yet they have spending power and choices of where to shop and how to spend their money. Is your business catering for everyone?

Providing good access at your premises or online is simply good for business – it creates opportunities to reach a greater diversity of customers, generates up to twice the selling power and enriches the customer experience. Whether you own a bricks and mortar business or operate online, there are opportunities to improve access. Most changes are simple and cost-effective.

Pictured above: Tim Ferguson, comedian and IncludeAbility ambassador.

Zero Barriers: connecting businesses with their communities

The City of Sydney has partnered with Zero Barriers to support businesses in the local area to become more inclusive and accessible for people with disability.

Zero Barriers offers a free program that takes a practical approach to education and provides ongoing support and recognition for eliminating barriers.

This partnership is part of our effort to make Sydney truly inclusive. Our inclusion (disability) action plan sets out how we remove barriers to inclusive participation, protect the rights of people with disability and promote the value of diversity and inclusion. It includes collaborating with businesses and disability-led organisations to build their capacity to be more inclusive and accessible.

Why Zero Barriers?

- You can boost your bottom line up to 25% by making it easier for people with disability to buy your products or services, according to Monash University research.
- For every $1 spent on access there is a $13 return on investment.
- Increasing access shows that your business cares about the whole community and that you are respectful of all people.
- When you join Zero Barriers, you join a community of businesses and will be included in a business directory.
- Being inclusive doesn’t have to involve huge changes or major renovations. In many cases, only small changes to the premises, customer service, marketing and communications, and employee training are all that’s needed.
- The Disability Discrimination Act 1992 makes it unlawful to discriminate in the provision of goods, services or facilities, against people on the basis that they have, or may have, a disability.

Hear about 3 ways you could make your business more accessible

How it works

Become a Zero Barriers member in 3 easy steps:

Self assess your premises and business operations.
Read the Zero Barriers accessibility guide to get simple, cost-effective solutions and improve customer access and inclusion for people with disability. A Zero Barriers officer is on hand to help you on your journey.
Join the community – receive and display a member logo and be included in the business directory to open your business up to a whole new audience.

Get started