On October 1st 2004 the final stage of the goods, facilities and services provisions of part 3 of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) came into force.  The new obligations apply to anyone providing a paid or unpaid service to the public.

As an employer and or 'Service Provider' you must ensure that access is available to all disabled people and that entry routes, facilities and all information is clearly defined and indicated by suitable signage.

Any organisation with 15 or more staff will also not be able to discriminate against disabled people in terms of recruitment and employment conditions.  The new provisions are a further important step forward to ensuring that disabled people have access to services that others take for granted.

You are expected to anticipate and make the reasonable adjustments to your premises and to plan ahead. You will need to look at and  make appropriate signage and marking of:

• car parking bays
• setting down points
• routes to and around your building
• entrances and exits
• directions to facilities, i.e. lifts, stairs, toilets etc.
• information and additional help for disabled
• emergency exit routes
• enhancement of existing signage

Greater detail on the new DDA Regulations can be found at the Disability Rights Commission website. (http://www.disability.gov.uk)

You can download a 'Disability Access Audit Checklist' from our Download area here

Disability is not always obvious.  The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) defines a person as disabled if they have a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on a person's ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities such as such as reading, writing, using the telephone, having a conversation and travelling by public transport.  'Long-term' usually means the impairment should have lasted or be expected to last at least a year and 'Substantial' means not minor or trivial.

The key thing is not the impairment but its effect.  Job-seekers, disabled employees and customers shall be treated fairly to avoid:

•  the three types of disability discrimination
•  victimisation
•  harassment

The three types of unlawful discrimination are:

•  direct discrimination
•  failure to make a reasonable adjustment
•  disability-related discrimination

Direct discrimination cannot be justified and happens when a disabled person is treated less favourably than a non-disabled person whose relevant circumstances are the same or not materially different.

Failure to make a reasonable adjustment cannot be justified and happens when an employer fails to make a reasonable adjustment for a disabled person.

Disability-related discrimination is when a disabled person is treated less favourably for a disability-related reason and the treatment cannot be justified. For example, treating someone differently because they have a guide dog.

Harassment is any form of unwanted and unwelcome behaviour that has the purpose or effect of violating the disabled person's dignity; or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment.

What does this mean for your premises?

•  You need to consider if and how any disabled children/visitors can gain access to your premises, reception, services areas etc. and ensure that they are not disadvantaged by their disability in doing so. 
• Reasonable adjustments need to be made to allow access to visitors, e.g. ramps fitted where there are steps, walkways made wide enough for a wheelchair to move, handrails where there are lots of steps or uneven ground etc. Also consider whether a wheelchair user, blind person or deaf person can be dealt with at your counters / reception areas.
•  If it is not possible to make physical changes to allow access then you need to look at how you can adapt your service, e.g. providing a bell for a disabled person to ring so one of your staff can be called to them.
•  Regarding staff, you must not discriminate during recruitment and ongoing staff development because of disability. You need to consider what adjustments can be made to enable the person to work (e.g. lower desk for a wheelchair user).

What is considered as a disability?

•  Basically, this is anyone with a long-term adverse effect on his or her mental and/or physical health. Long term means one year or more and includes people applying for work as well as those who are already employed.
• Disability includes those people with recognised mental disorders as well as physical.

Consider the following:

•  Wheelchair users
•  People with severe visual impairment
•  Someone with a long term psychological disorder (e.g. schizophrenia)
•  Someone with poor manual dexterity (e.g. bad arthritis)
•  People who are fully/ partially deaf
•  People with long-term conditions affecting their balance (e.g. Vertigo, Parkinson's disease, MS).