Yelp’s Newest Features Help People With Disabilities Find Accessible Businesses

For the 42.5 million Americans with disabilities, navigating businesses that accommodate their specific accessibility needs can be a daily challenge. In recent years, Yelp has noticed more people looking for specific accommodations, particularly with searches for “wheelchair accessible” spiking 40 percent from 2020 to 2023. 

So earlier this summer, the business reviews company added eight additional accessibility attributes that can be searched. Four of the new filters are mobility-related: “Accessible parking near entrance,” “ADA-compliant main entrance,” “ADA-compliant restroom,” and “No steps or stairs.” The first three follow guidelines as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), such as requiring entrances to have a width of at least 32 inches when a door is opened to 90 degrees. 

Two new attributes are for hearing accessibility: “ASL proficient,” which requires at least one staff member who is proficient in the language to be available during business hours, and “Closed captioning on TVs” for establishments that have captions on at least one television.

For vision accessibility, both are in regards to the menus: “Braille menus available” and “QR code menus available,” with the latter allowing guests to enlarge content on their devices or use assistive screen readers. 

In addition to the new attributes that can be searched, Yelp is also helping those with visual impairments with AI-driven alternative text descriptions on images and better color contrast to make them more visible for those with color blindness or low vision. It has also improved its experience for adaptive screen readers. 

“With these new accessibility attributes, we’re excited to help businesses more clearly indicate their inclusive practices to make it even easier for people to find the right business for them,” the company’s senior vice president of product Akhil Kuduvalli Ramesh said in a statement shared with Travel + Leisure. “For people who use screen readers, we hope some of our recent platform updates will make the experience of finding that great local business even more seamless.” 

The company worked with Disability:IN, the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD), Open to All, and The Arc to develop its new features, as well as provide businesses with an Accessibility Resource Hub to make their establishments more accessible for all guests. 

“Making Yelp and the world more accessible makes daily life easier for everyone and we look forward to continuing our work to create a more accessible and inclusive world for everyone,” Ramesh added.