Disabled Access
Striving to end discrimination against disabled people
The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA) affects almost everyone who provides goods, facilities and services to the public whether paid for or not.
The DDA defines a disability as:
"a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on a person's ability to carry out normal, day-to-day activities".
Duty of the Service Provider
Part III of the Act outlines service providers' obligations to disabled people in three stages:
- Since December 1996 it has been unlawful for service providers to refuse to serve a disabled person, offer a lower standard of service or provide a service on worse terms to a disabled person for a reason related to his or her disability
- Since October 1999 service providers have had to make reasonable adjustments for disabled people in the way they provide their services
- From October 2004 service providers may have to make reasonable adjustments in relation to the physical features of their premises to overcome physical barriers to access
What if I have difficulty using the service provided?
Where a physical feature makes it impossible or unreasonably difficult for disabled customers to make use of a service offered to the public, service providers must now take measures where reasonable, to:
- Remove the feature; or
- Alter it so that it no longer has that effect; or
- Provide a reasonable means of avoiding the feature; or
- Provide a reasonable alternative method of making the service available to disabled people (this fourth duty has been in force since October 1999)
The DDA defines inaccessible physical features as "anything on the premises arising from a building's design or construction or the approach to, exit from or access to such a building; fixtures, fittings, furnishings, equipment or materials and any other physical element or quality of land in the premises ... whether temporary or permanent".
How is a reasonable change determined?
Several factors will have a bearing on whether a change is a reasonable one for service providers to have to make, particularly for physical adjustments to premises, including:
- Whether taking any particular measures would be effective in overcoming the difficulty that disabled people face in accessing the services in question
- The extent to which it is practicable for the service provider to take the measures
- The financial and other costs of making the adjustment
- The extent of any disruption which taking the measures would cause
- The extent of the service provider's financial and other resources
- The amount of any resources already spent on making adjustments
- The availability of financial or other assistance
Who determines discrimination?
The DDA is part of civil rights legislation and is not centrally policed. It will be for the courts to decide if a disabled person has been discriminated against. Anyone who believes that a service provider has unlawfully discriminated against him or her may bring civil proceedings in the county court.
How does the DDA affect new non-residential buildings?
It's estimated that about 16% of British people have a disability or impairment
Building Regulations, ensures that all new non-residential buildings are accessible to disabled people by:
- Providing level access into the building or providing a ramp
- At least one staff toilet appropriately sized for a wheelchair user
- Providing an accessible wheelchair-ready public toilet
- Lifts to upper floors in buildings over a certain size
- Tactile surfaces to warn the partially sighted and blind of hazards e.g. stairs, open windows, etc.
Further guidance
The Disability Discrimination Act 2005Accessible Building Design BS 8300:2009
Building Regulations Approved Document Part M (2004 edition)
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