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Accessibility & Inclusive Design Consultants
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British Airways

Working with British Airways to deliver a unique and aspirational accessibility and inclusion training programme

Mima has been a brilliant organisation to work with. Emily’s expertise was evident from the very beginning. I truly valued the team’s approach - not only highly collaborative, but also demonstrating strong leadership and robust project management, which was incredibly reassuring.

They invested time in understanding BA’s culture and current landscape, enabling them to build on our existing accessibility efforts and knowledge. Their support helped us think differently, equipping colleagues with the skills to go beyond accessibility and embed a new mindset across corporate and operational functions. The feedback we’ve received from colleagues has been overwhelmingly positive.

Xavier Mascarell British Airways

Services: Accessibility & Inclusive Design

Xavier Mascarell and his team set us an interesting challenge in 2024: how do we build awareness, empathy and a desire for transformational action in dedicated British Airways team members who might never see or interact with customers? So often, disability and wider protected characteristic awareness training is (rightly) focused on providing a front-facing welcome, using the correct language and terminology, and knowing what features and facilities may be at your disposal to ensure a safe, equitable and dignified experience or journey for all customers. Staff members who might be working more ‘back of house’ still absolutely need to build their knowledge and confidence in these areas, but with a training mechanism that may look a little different.

The Challenge

British Airways have approximately 2,000 colleagues working across multiple business areas (including engagement centres, brands and marketing, catering, and digital). Our first - and really vital - task was to truly understand how these teams worked, where their knowledge around accessibility and inclusive design was positioned, what knowledge and/or confidence gaps existed and could be bridged, and how they worked with other teams or ‘champions’ in this area. We interviewed ten colleagues in a variety of roles to build this picture of the as-is scenario, and worked with Xavier and team to agree on the ‘to-be’ goals and aspirations.

The Inclusive Design Flight Path is a high level roadmapping tool Mima built as part of the project to drive conversations about Accessibility and Inclusive Design, in particular how it can be built into project planning.
The Inclusive Design Flight Path is a high level roadmapping tool Mima built as part of the project to drive conversations about Accessibility and Inclusive Design, in particular how it can be built into project planning.

The Solution

‘Setting the awareness baseline’

To start the training journey, setting the awareness baseline and ensuring everyone was ‘on the same page’ was of great importance. We ran introductory sessions that introduced British Airways colleagues to (or refreshed their memory on) accessibility and inclusive design principles, disability models and theories, and the business case for equitable and inclusive improvements physically, digitally and operationally, in environments, products and services. Delegates were invited to share their knowledge and confidence levels surrounding these topics both before and after the session, to allow the Learning and Development team to gain understanding through metrics of where the project should go next.

Enabling specialist knowledge and confidence

Next, in Phase Two of the project, was defining the training content areas that we felt would lead to most interest, engagement and positive, actionable impact for all at British Airways, taking into account such varying roles and responsibilities. It was important that these sessions encouraged great amounts of discussion and interaction, giving colleagues in different teams the opportunity to share and learn from one another. After some workshopping, we agreed on the following four sessions: 

  • Built Environment and Products
  • Processes, Policies and Procedures
  • Digital Accessibility
  • Inclusive Marketing

We ran all sessions both virtually and in-person to maximise attendance and engagement opportunity, and facilitated many group activities, including giving participants the chance learn more about lived experience engagement and the importance of co-design and co-production. This gave them the opportunity to build their own ‘Inclusive Design Flight Paths’ for their teams, noting the actions they would take now, next week or month, and up to a year in the future to build ownership and accountability, but also solidify the truth behind the famous accessibility phrase of ‘progress, not perfection’.

The Impact

As our work with British Airways sadly came to an end, we provided all colleagues with a set of ‘leave-behind training toolkits’. Each toolkit included content slides for every session and a ‘knowledge library’ with useful references and links for further learning. We also provided an ‘action checklist’ to help teams capture activities, owners and timelines, supporting ongoing accountability.

In addition, colleagues received guidance on running their own ‘Inclusive Design Flight Path’ workshops, along with nine lived-experience videos highlighting physical, sensory and cognitive access needs across the aviation journey. The toolkit was completed with reference posters explaining the Social Model of Disability and the value of designing for everyone.

Are you looking to carry out Accessibility and Inclusive Design training in your organisation? Take a look at our School of Mima training courses or get in touch for something bespoke.

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