Access Audits.

THE DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION ACT 1995

Goods, Facilities and Services

The Act is concerned with a number of areas in which disabled people may face discrimination. These include Employment, Education and Public Transport.

Part III of the Act also requires service providers who provide a service to the public to make reasonable adjustments to their service for disabled people.

Services which are covered include those provided to the public by:

Reasonable adjustments may be necessary to overcome both physical and non-physical barriers restricting or preventing access to the service.

Examples of Physical Barriers include

• Stepped thresholds
• Narrow door openings
• Lifts with no tactile controls for use by the visually impaired

Examples of non-physical barriers include

• A Travel Agent's policy that requires a larger deposit from disabled persons
• A Book shop's instruction to staff to refuse orders for large print copies of books
• A Fast food restaurant's attitude to a person with a severe facial disfigurement who is told to sit out of sight of other customers

It is a common misconception that this Part of the Act is only concerned with access to the Building. Although Building access is an important aspect of "Access", it is access to the Service that needs to be provided.

Adjustments fall into three areas:

1. Changing practices and policies
2. Providing auxiliary aids and services
3. Overcoming physical barriers

From 1^st October 1999, a service provider has had to take reasonable steps to carry out adjustments under items 1 and 2 above,

Or provide an alternative means of making its service available.

By 1^st October 2004 all service providers must take steps to make reasonable adjustments to their premises to overcome physical barriers to access.

Physical barriers can be overcome by:

• Removing the feature
• Altering it so that it no longer has an adverse effect
• Avoiding it by reasonable means
• Or providing the service by alternative means.

What is a "physical feature"?

A "physical feature" includes:

• Any feature arising from the design or construction of a building.
• Any approach to, exit from or access to a building.
• Any fixture, fittings, furnishings, furniture, equipment or materials in a premises.

What is reasonable?

When considering what is reasonable the following factors can be taken into account: -

• Practicality
• Financial & other costs
• Disruption
• Financial resources available
• Resources already spent
• Availability of financial assistance

Good Practice

A service provider should adopt an "inclusive approach" to providing services to disabled persons by considering the following hierarchy for adjustments:

The intention of an inclusive approach is to provide the same service on the same basis to all and, where possible, not to provide alternative methods for the sole use of Disabled people.

What action should service providers take?

Certain parts of the Act concerning non-physical barriers have been in force since October 1999 and action should already have been taken to ensure that the requirements arising from the Act have been met.

Although action to remove physical barriers is not required until October 2004, it makes sense to plan ahead now.

Some of the physical barriers may be overcome by carrying out simple modifications as part of normal Planned Maintenance e.g. new door handles, clearer signs, contrasting colours finishes.

Other barriers may require more significant structural alterations e.g. widening doorways, providing ramps.

Service Providers are more likely to be able to comply with their duties if they:

• Audit physical and non-physical barriers to access
• Make adjustments
• Provide training to staff which is relevant to these adjustments
• Draw the adjustments to the attention of disabled people
• Let disabled people know how to request assistance
• Regularly review the effectiveness of adjustments and act on the findings

How can SHEilds help?

Our first step would be to carry out an audit of the existing service provisions - an "Access Audit". This establishes a Baseline and identifies where barriers, both physical and non-physical, exist. We will provide guidance on the adjustments that are necessary to overcome these barriers.

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