Access means business

Is inclusion on your menu?

According to reports received from our Guide Dog Handlers in 2024, cafés and restaurants are the most common industry illegally refusing people access to their services across NSW and the ACT. This needs to change. Let’s work together to create a hospitality industry that upholds the rights of people with low vision or blindness, fosters an inclusive and welcoming space for dining and gathering and ensures businesses can benefit from a broader and more diverse customer base. Access means business.

A man and a woman sit at a table in a cafe facing each other. The woman smiles and has her hand against a drink. There are tables and chairs and other cafe patrons in the background.

Why is an accessible café or restaurant important?

From Guide Dog Handler and Guide Dogs NSW/ACT staff member Dan Searle:

“Food and dining out holds a significant place in Australian culture. Most life events are celebrated over food, and we often socialise and work with a coffee in hand.

I want to feel comfortable to participate in these experiences just like everyone else. Dining out often comes with additional challenges for me. I often have multiple worries before my journey starts, such as whether I will get to the venue safely, wondering whether they will attempt to refuse me with my Guide Dog, if the ordering, serving and payment process will be accessible and whether the acoustics of the venue will allow me to follow a conversation with my friends and work colleagues.

There are often very simple things that you can do that will allow me to walk away from my dining experience feeling I’ve been treated with dignity and respect.

I am excited about sharing our resources, learning materials and conversations with businesses so that people like me can be included. I want to feel welcome. I want to ensure that you are meeting your obligations as an inclusive service so that our wonderful diverse community also benefits from dining experiences that are so important to Australia’s culture.”

Guide Dogs NSW/ACT staff member Dan Searle sits at a table in a cafe with another person. He holds a cup of coffee on the table in front of him.

Working with the City of Sydney

In collaboration with the City of Sydney, Guide Dogs NSW/ACT is running campaign activities in the Sydney Local Government Area (LGA). We will target hospitality businesses with a plan to provide education, create opportunities for conversations, and ensure people travelling within the CBD are aware of our campaign via public advertising. Our aim is to reach at least 500 businesses and encourage change so that the City of Sydney is known as a truly inclusive city.

A woman and her Guide Dog, wearing a harness, walk into a café entryway. To the right, a couple of café patrons sit at a table, and to the left is the café counter.

Assisting people with blindness or low vision.

Complete our ‘Assisting people with blindness or low vision’ course.

Use the code ‘Sydney’ if you work in hospitality within the Sydney LGA to access the course free of charge!

Start learning for free

The solution:

We ask restaurant and café owners and managers to take the lead and ensure that all staff are:

Informed of their obligation to respect the legal rights of assistance animals.
Aware of how to effectively guide and communicate with people who have low vision or blindness.
Able to create an inclusive space that allows people with low vision or blindness to locate, move around, and access information.

The asks:

Of hospitality businesses:

All staff complete our ‘Assisting people with blindness or low vision‘ course. Use the code ‘Sydney’ if you work in hospitality within the Sydney LGA to access the course free of charge!
Read our ‘Creating an inclusive hospitality service’ brochure and ensure there is understanding of Guide Dog Access Rights and Etiquette.
Display an ‘Assistance animals welcome sticker’ near the entry of your business.
Display the ‘Is inclusion on your menu? poster’ in your front-of-house space or staff room as a helpful reminder of how to welcome people with low vision or blindness.
Share the Guide Dogs NSW/ACT post about the campaign on your social media pages. You can find the posts for sharing here on our LinkedIn, Instagram or Facebook.
Email a photo of your business with the ‘Assistance animals welcome’ sticker and the ‘Is inclusion on your menu?’ poster to the Social Change team at socialchange@guidedogs.com.au!
Advocate for and procure inclusively designed and accessible products and physical spaces.
Sign up to be an Inclusion Ally to keep up to date with our work to create change.
Share our resources with your networks to drive change across the industry!

Of community members and Clients:

Read and share our campaign resources with your networks, local cafés or restaurants, particularly those in the City of Sydney.
Be an ally. When you see inaccessible practices in your travels, kindly direct them to this web page to learn more.
Share your ideas for how we can create a more inclusive hospitality industry with the Social Change team, including stories of when and where you’ve seen things done well. Email socialchange@guidedogs.com.au
Sign up to be an Inclusion Ally to keep up to date with our work to create change.