O’Herlihy Access Consultancy (OHAC) was founded in 2007 by Eoin O’Herlihy. Based on the lived experience of a close family member who experienced a stroke and became a wheelchair user, Eoin was driven by the need to address the many challenges faced by people with disabilities to participate fully in society. Since then, the company has grown into a leading consultancy in universal design, accessibility, disability inclusion, and specialist accessibility and awareness training.
OHAC’s vision is to make everyday life accessible to everyone. They work in partnership with clients to ensure their built environment, facilities, services, workplaces, and information provision meet the needs of all, and comply with relevant legislation in Ireland and internationally. By adopting the principles of universal design, OHAC assist their clients in achieving best in class standards of inclusion. They allow their clients to meet both their present and future requirements, and to become leaders in all aspects of accessibility.
OHAC work closely with their clients and stakeholders in the co-design of solutions. This collaboration continues throughout the lifecycle of each of their projects.
OHAC also provide support to clients on their journey to creating a accessible and disability inclusive organisations. This ranges from developing strategies and policies, carrying out accessibility and inclusivity audits, supporting consultation processes, and assisting in the design of accessible and inclusive procedures incorporating all touch points with clients, customers, employees, visitors, and other stakeholders.
Here are some things on which OHAC really pride themselves:
- Passion for accessibility: The whole team at OHAC are deeply passionate about accessibility and disability inclusion.
- Disability-Inclusive Employer: OHAC are proud to foster a work environment where individuals of all abilities are valued and empowered to contribute their best.
- Inclusive Approach: They work with people of all abilities to co-design solutions that meet diverse needs and that are truly accessible and inclusive.
- Expertise: The OHAC team is made up of qualified professionals who have years of experience and extensive knowledge of working in accessibility and inclusion.
- Comprehensive Services Offering: Their full service offering means that OHAC have the capability to support their clients’ full accessibility and inclusion requirements.
- Continuous Learning Culture: OHAC have a culture of continuous learning to ensure that they remain at the forefront of trends in accessibility and universal design.
- Leadership in Certification: The team has received a wealth of accreditations in various aspects of accessibility.
- Partnerships with Disability Organisations: OHAC value the strong partnerships they’ve developed with organisations working in accessibility in Ireland and internationally.
OHAC help Netflix overhaul their European accessibility practices and policy:
OHAC was appointed by Netflix EMEA (Europe, Middle East & Africa) to advise the Netflix Team on how they could integrate accessibility and Universal Design into everything that they do. The project demonstrates OHAC’s experience in delivering access advisory services and access audits to a multi-location and multi-site client in Ireland and across Europe. The project was completed within a relatively short timeframe of 18 months, given its scope and complexity.
The aim at the start of the project was to educate and engage with Netflix to start their accessibility journey and to help them to identify the key areas that needed to be actioned to start a continuous improvement model around access and Universal Design. The project took the following form:
Part 1: Development of Methodology
OHAC worked with the Netflix project team to develop a methodology to address the key requirements of the project and arrived at the following goals.
- Strategy – Develop a strategy and framework to allow Netflix to deliver accessible and Universal Design Service and Product Delivery.
- Employment – Improve recruitment, retention and promotion of people with disabilities within the workplace and develop inclusive management and leadership practices.
- Offices and workplaces – Improve the accessibility of all buildings and offices for all users, regardless of their ability.
- Customer Services – Build an accessibility-confident service to enhance the overall customer experience.
- Information Provision – Make information and communication technology accessible for all.
Part 2: Co-design
A key aspect of OHAC’s method is their co-design of solutions with their clients.
OHAC first conducted surveys with Netflix’s Accessibility ERG and other key departments and stakeholders internally to build a broad picture of where Netflix were at and ensure that the voices of disabled people were included in the process.
Once OHAC understood Netflix’s position, they were able to build a set of bespoke Universal Design Guidelines that Netflix can use across all their EMEA operations.
As part of the development of the overall Guidelines, OHAC helped Netflix’s Accessibility ERG develop their own accessibility strategy, to allow them to effectively advocate for disabled people internally.
The Guidelines that were developed now allow Netflix to have a common framework to use in the design, construction, and fit out of all buildings and facilities. It also informs how the company goes about their softer accessibility, like reasonable adjustments for employees.
Part 3: Access Audits
OHAC conducted Access Audits in Netflix offices in five cities around Europe: Amsterdam, Berlin, Brussels, Rome and Madrid.
Together with the Netflix team, OHAC developed a customised Access Audit Toolkit that allowed staff to easily review buildings and generate accessibility reports. On completion of the Access Audits, the toolkit can be used to create an accessibility action plan, based on the information gathered during the audit.
As part of the Access Audit, OHAC also worked with the Netflix Real Estate Team on accessibility requirements for several new offices across Europe. They examined a number of locations across four cities – Istanbul, Stockholm, Berlin, and London – to identify any access issues. Once the sites were selected, OHAC carried out multiple access and universal design reviews of the proposed design and fit out of the new buildings.
Part 4: Formulation of user-friendly reports
As mentioned above, OHAC developed an Access Audit Toolkit for Netflix to use to identify the level of accessibility of their buildings.
The reports produced provided a systematic review of all aspects of the building, facilities, workplace, information systems, and services. The reports were designed to be understandable and accessible to everyone, regardless of level of technical knowledge. Lastly, the reports were designed to be consistent across all areas, such that each of the aforementoined locations could be compared using a standard template.
As a result, Netflix could efficiently assign colleagues different tasks, assign budgets and timelines for delivery. They could also prioritise the key actions as part of their work plan deliverables.
Part 5: Advice on improvement projects
Every report provided recommendations to address or improve accessibility based on the audits. These included specific recommendations on how to embed Universal Design into the built environment, as well as ensure that all policies, plans, and procedures are accessible and inclusive.
Part 6: Accessibility Resource Toolkit
The final part of the project was the delivery of Netflix’s own Accessibility Resource Toolkit. The toolkit provided a guiding light on accessibility for all future projects at Netflix, and provides the tools necessary to advance Netflix’s accessibility goals over the coming years.
OHAC’s approach showcases the importance of collaboration in developing a useful and robust accessibility policy. Every company and case is different, and while there are common themes in accessibility, there is no one-size-fits-all policy that will work for every situation. This case study also highlights the importance of data in understanding the needs of employees and customers alike, demonstrating why our drive for inclusive reporting and authentic representation are so important to ending disability exclusion.
