Making adjustsments under the DDa is expensive

This is myth quite often it is the working practices policies and procedures that create the barriers.

The act deems that all alterations should be practical affordable and reasonable.

There is no government watch dog like the Trading standards officers employed. However there are 8 million disabled people in the UK who all have the right to take out individual private cases against you if you fail to carryout your obligations under the act.

And they could get their legal fees paid for.

You wont..

What is the purpose of the DDA?

The purpose of the Disability Discrimination Act, or the DDA as its commonly known as, is to prevent service providers treating disabled people less favourably than other customers or employees, and to oblige service providers to make reasonable adjustments to all aspects of their service to ensure that it is accessible to disabled people.

The DDA makes it unlawful for service providers to discriminate against disabled people in the service they provide by:

• Refusing to provide a disabled person with a service which is provided to others
• Offering service on different terms
• Offering a different standard or manner of service
• Failing to comply with a duty to make 'reasonable adjustments' such that it makes it impossible or unreasonably difficult for a disabled person to use that service.

 

Who is a service provider?

The DDA defines a service provider as: anyone.concerned with the provision, in the UK , of services to the public or to a section of the public, with or without payment".

The only exceptions are certain transport vehicles or modes of transport such as a bus or plane, but not the bus station or the airport. Here are a few examples of service providers to whom the DDA applies:

Local councils Hotels National parks Banks Pubs Sports stadia Post offices Charities Theatres Voluntary organisations Art galleries Cinemas
Museums Places of worship Leisure centres Shops
Government departments & agencies

 

Who is recognised as disabled under the act?

The DDA defines a disabled person as someone with a 'physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on the ability to carry out normal day to day activities'.

In addition to customers who use wheelchairs or who have mobility problems, there are millions of potential customers affected by some degree of hearing loss, learning disabilities, facial disfigurement, visual impairment, mental illness, dyslexia, or a condition such as arthritis or incontinence.

 

What are my legal obligations under the act?

The DDA has been introduced in three phases:

1996:
It became unlawful for service providers to treat a disabled person less favourably than a non-disabled person for a reason relating to their disability.

1999:
Service providers were obliged to alter practices, policies, and procedures that make it impossible or unreasonably difficult for a disabled person to use their services.

2001:
Obliged to make adjustments through the use of auxiliary aids and services to assist a disabled person in accessing their services.

2004:
Service providers obliged to make 'reasonable adjustments' to physical features of their premises that present barriers to access for disabled people by removing or altering the feature, or by providing reasonable ways of avoiding the feature, or by providing access by alternative methods of making the services available.

Actions to overcome physical barriers should be considered in the order listed above. Only if the first options have been considered and determined unreasonable should later options be taken. So, if it's possible to either remove a feature altogether, you should remove the feature rather than alter it.

2005:
Significant changes introduced that affect private members' clubs and the public sector and the way in which they respond to the Act.

 

What are 'reasonable adjustments'?

The extent to which adjustments are deemed as 'reasonable' for a service provider to have made to their building and premises are judged by the Courts on a number of factors. These factors include the resources available to make the adjustment,

the disruption that making the adjustment would have caused, and the improvement in access that would have been achieved in making the adjustment.

Accordingly, the test of what is 'reasonable' varies between different services providers. Compare a large high street chain and a small independent retailer. Both are service providers, and both are required to make 'reasonable' adjustments to their premises. Simple low cost adjustments that can improve access to any building are likely to be considered reasonable for both service providers to implement.

However, adjustments that require major structural work or significant expenditure such as a lift shaft installation are very unlikely to be deemed reasonable for the small independent to have implemented, but may well be deemed reasonable for a large high street chain with significant resources.

It's not always an easy call to make. The key is to recognise best practice and to correctly identify your access issues with an independent access audit.

Most barriers to access for disabled people arise from the physical features of premises such as steps and narrow doors, however staff communication and training, and the business policies and practices that service providers adopt often create a greater barrier. It is as equally important to implement effective staff equality training as it is to altering obvious physical barriers to access such as steps and poor signage. A sensible approach towards people's access and egress needs often is minor in cost and attracts more customers.