guide to accessibility for tattoo studios and tattooers

This guide contains ideas on how to approach writing your accessibility information. It includes not just physical access, but sensory and privacy access and considerations for queer, trans & neurodivergent clients, & people with dark skin tones and varying body types.

Every studio should provide accessibility information, even if your studio is not on ground level.
By clearly and thoroughly describing a space, we can recognise the spectrum of disabilities and the individual needs of clients, and provide accessibility information in a way that enables clients to make their own assessment about how they might access it.

Here are some examples of comprehensive accessibility guides: Crucible Tattoo Co, Studio Take Care, Blank Collective.

Research consistently shows disproportionate rates of disability among neurodivergent and LGBTQIA+ people. We can build relationships of respect and trust with our clients by showing deeply considered allyship, and by making our values a core part of our practice.

This guide is tattoo studio focussed, but elements can of course apply to other businesses where clients and customers spend time. When writing your own accessibility information, plain & straightforward language is encouraged. Photos can be extremely helpful, to enable your clients to visualise whether they will be able to access the space.
Please feel free to copy and adapt these guidelines to suit your own purpose.

physical access

Your client might use a walker or a mobility aid other than a wheelchair, and be ok with a single step into the building. Your client might be able to climb one set of stairs, but not four. Your client might be a wheelchair user who can walk a few steps, or leave their wheelchair outside the bathroom and use it independently if it has grab rails. Your client might require a support person, and need to know whether there is space. Your client might have different needs on different days!

Considerations to communicate:

• The nearest public transportation stops & distance to the studio.
• Whether there are designated accessible parking spaces nearby.
• Number of steps to the studio and their heights.
• Number of flights of stairs, and whether there is an lift/elevator.
• Width of the front entrance, the length and weight rating of any foldable ramps.
• Material of the floor, whether any rugs or obstacles are present.
• Type and weight rating of seating in the waiting area.
• Weight ratings and widths of the tattooing beds and furniture.
• Whether furniture is collapsible to make extra space.
• Whether step stools are available for access onto the beds.

toilets

Extending your physical accessibility to the bathrooms, consider:

• The distance of the bathroom from the tattooing space.
• Number of steps or stairs to the bathroom.
• Width of the door.
• Size of the room.
• Availability of grab rails.
• Where the closest public wheelchair accessible toilet is located.

Your trans clients may also have concerns about what the bathroom facilities are like.
Knowing whether the studio has a private unisex bathroom, or if it’s in a shared building with gendered facilities can help them prepare for their visit. If you share toilets with other businesses in the building, can you talk to them or the building managers about making the toilets gender neutral?

sensory access

Complete and thorough accessibility information should cover much more than physical access. Getting a tattoo can be difficult, uncomfortable, painful and time consuming. To enable neurodivergent people or those with sensory sensitivities or chronic pain / illness to feel comfortable accessing your space, you can communicate what they can expect to encounter, and how you can minimise exposure to overwhelming scents, light and sound. Letting a client know what to expect from the studio - even if it can’t be changed - can help them mentally prepare & conserve energy for the experience.

• If the studio doesn’t have a private room, does the studio have temporary privacy screens that can be arranged around the bed?
• Do you provide adequate pillows to pad the body, fidget or stim devices, or anything else that might improve sensory comfort?
• Are tattoo numbing sprays available to use during the tattoo?
• Is there are conditioning, or might temperatures in the room fluctuate?

Consider what you can do to make your studio accessible for deaf & hard of hearing clients.
• Can clients bring an interpreter?
• Could you learn and teach your colleagues some basic signs to use during the tattoo, such as ‘are you ok?’ or ‘I need a break’?

scent

It is expected and unavoidable that there will be the scent of cleaning products and disinfectants in a tattoo studio, but studios can take steps to minimise extra scents such as incense or perfume. Let your clients know they can tell you if they are sensitive to scent, and that you will avoid incense and strong perfumes being present in the studio on the day of their visit.

light

A client may be laying down facing the ceiling and staring into overhead lighting for hours at a time.
• Will there be any fluorescent or flickering lighting in the space?
• Can lighting be adjusted?
Simple things such as providing a pair of sunglasses go a long way to show you are considering the experience of your client.

sound

It can be helpful to communicate whether the studio is quiet and private, or if is there likely to be overwhelming chatter and noise in the space.

• Is it small room with 2 tattooers working, or a large open plan space with 10 beds?
• Do you use loud or quiet tattoo machines?
• Can the choice of music and volume in the studio can be changed to suit your client?
• Let your client know they are free to bring ear-plugs or headphones.

covid safety

An important way to show up as an ally to disabled people is to show that you consider how covid / flu / common cold safety affects disabled or immunocompromised clients.
• Are the artists happy to wear a mask during the session?
• Does the the space has open windows or air purifiers present?

consent forms & hiv disclosure

HIV, HIV treatments and Hepatitis are not contraindications to tattooing, piercing or cosmetic procedures. It’s discriminatory and intrusive to require mandatory disclosure of a client’s HIV status on a consent form.
Universal precautions and cross contamination protocols dictate that we treat each and every client as though they may have an undiagnosed blood-borne virus. Knowledge that your client has a blood borne virus should not change anything about the application or process of the tattoo - utmost care should be always be taken regardless, and accessibility to your studio includes removing discrimination and stigmatisation from the entire tattoo process.

tattooing diverse body types and skin tones

Consider how people with varying body types and skin tones might access your space - whether they feel welcome, if they can see themselves represented in your practice, and what you can do to improve that. This could include:

• Educating yourself and other members of your studio on how to tattoo dark skin tones - there are plenty of resources online.
• Having examples of your tattoos on people of colour available.
• Avoiding desaturating skin tones in the photos you post. Desaturating photos contributes to a lack of representation of true skin tones, and leads to portfolios looking ‘whitewashed’.
• Educating yourself on what could be considered culturally insensitive imagery, and not tattooing it if it’s not appropriate.
• Offering discounts, sliding scale pricing or trades to people of colour if you can.
• Offering free colour test tattoos or consultations for people with dark skin when they book a colour tattoo.
• Making your colour test tattoos simple but intentional designs, instead of just a row of dots.
• Educating yourself on anti-fat bias and fat liberation.

When mocking up designs, pay attention to who you are visualising your tattoos on, as that will probably be the clients you attract. Include a range of skin tones and body types in your mockups to show that you are comfortable and proficient at tattooing a range of people.

Let me know if I've missed anything! And please feel free to share this with your local artists and tattoo studios.

germ