IFLY GOLD COAST
What motivated you to be inclusive and accessible? Were there any challenges and if so, how did you overcome them? One of our tag lines is ‘Anyone can fly' – so we're really trying to live up to that! We're lucky that the experience itself is accessible, so a lot of our attention goes towards staff training and keeping our staff informed with how we can deliver our amazing customer service to more people.
The word ‘skydiving' is a big challenge for us. I think it can lead to assumptions being made by some that this activity isn't for them, simply because we have the word skydiving in our company name.
Tell us about your business and the facilities or services you provide to make it more inclusive and accessible. iFLY Gold Coast is quite new, so the physical access of the facility is great. We have pick up/ drop off spaces available right outside our accessible entrance where our lift to the flight deck is located. All hallways are wide enough for powered wheelchairs to move through. All the toilets are ambulant and we have a lefthand transfer toilet and shower/ changing room on the flight deck too.
The area where you wait to fly is wide enough to fit powered wheelchairs through, and we have a quiet space tucked away as well in case anyone would like to chill out in there.
All staff receive training on providing customer service to people of all abilities. And our instructors also receive specific training as well. This might range from how we fly customers who use a wheelchair, to what to use instead of hand signals for people who have vision impairment.
And the learning never stops! So we are always evolving our procedures with the experience we get from providing Indoor Skydiving as an accessible activity on the Gold Coast.
As an accessible and inclusive business/attraction what benefits have you seen?
I think the greatest benefit of becoming more inclusive is the impact that has on the staff and their own personal development. Looking back I find it quite shocking how little I knew about disabilities in general. When you train your staff on disability awareness, I think that knowledge stays with them and can be used outside of the work environment. So that knowledge will be used in the wider community to break down the stigmas that exist.
From a business point of view, it just makes sense to become more inclusive. There's an entire industry based around inclusive tourism. Being more inclusive simply means you can cater to more customers.
• iFLY Gold Coast website is - ifly.com.au
• Our access statement is at - ifly.com.au/allabilities
• Any enquiries can go to 1300 435 966
or info.gc@ifly.com.au