The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA)
- What does it mean?
- What does "discriminate" mean?
- How does this affect businesses?
- What if an alteration costs too much?
- What is "reasonable"?
- Are listed buildings exempt?
- What if businesses have no disabled customers or employees?
- What are the risks of doing nothing?
- What should you do next?
- What is an Access Audit?
- What else should you take in to account?
- What are the advantages of compliancy with the DDA?
How does this affect businesses?
With the implementation of the legislation from the beginning of October 2004, service providers will have to make .reasonable adjustments. to their premises in order to make their services accessible to disabled people. The adjustments you make should mainstream your business service, making it inclusive to all.
This might include putting up clearer signs for visually impaired customers, installing an induction loop for the hard of hearing, installing ramps and hand rails to improve disabled access, correcting table or counter heights, highlighting danger areas or removing obstacles. These alterations should be done in compliance with the British Standard BS 8300: 2001 and Part M of the Building Regulations (see below).
Problems and solutions vary from business to business. The law says you can make the alterations in four ways:
- Remove the barrier or obstacle;
- Make alterations such as adding a ramp, clearer signage, counter heights, etc;
- Find a means of avoiding the problem such as reconfiguring the internal layout of the building;
- Provide a service or access by reasonable alternative means for example offering a home service, installing call bells at approved heights etc.
