Language is the first step to making the drinks trade more inclusive
Accessibility and wine consultant Emma Hodges reveals ways to shift our language to make the drinks and hospitality trade more inclusive.
Understanding the language around inclusion is often the first step to making spaces more accessible for people with additional needs.
No one knows this better than accessibility and wine consultant Emma Hodges. Having begun her career working in the care sector, she launched Emma’s Wine Time, an accessibility consultancy, in 2023. She currently holds a position as an advisory council member at Drinks United and is an advisory specialist to WineGB.
Hodges believes the word disabled to be an “outdated term”, and explained how people and businesses can adapt their language to be more inclusive.
“I try not to use the word disabled, because I think we should enable,” she said. “Disabled gives the impression that something isn’t working.”
She argued that shifting language plays a vital role in changing the mentality around access to create more welcoming, open and diverse spaces.
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“Rather than ‘what can’t you do’,” Hodges said we should be using more positive language, asking questions like “‘what can you do’ or ‘how can we do this’”.
She said that when it comes to hospitality venues catering to the needs of a wheelchair user, for example, opting for phrases like “you can get up a ramp” over “you can’t walk up the stairs” shifts the mentality to a positive, solutions-focused approach.
“It changes that feeling for them and for us,” Hodges said. “If we go in with that attitude, it doesn’t feel like so much of a challenge, even for the person looking on how we can support.”
First person language is also key, Hodges said. “A person with a visual need, not a visually-impaired person; the person is put first within a conversation, so you’re seeing the person before the need,” she explained.
“I think that’s really important as well, because in all of these conversations, when we’re talking access, diversity, culture, gender, all under inclusion, they’re all people in the forefront of this.”
Last week, db published an interview with Emma Hodges revealing why the wine trade’s “ignorance is bliss” attitude is limited accessibility. Click here to read more on what questions the sector should be asking to become a more welcoming space.
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