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?
What are the risks of doing nothing?
There is the possibility of having to defend a costly legal action. There is growing evidence to suggest that the compensation culture in the UK is growing steadily. The chances of being taken to court are now an increasing reality.
If service providers do not comply with the DDA they may be open to challenge, prosecution and payment of compensation to affected parties. Compensation, according to the Department of Trade and Industry website, has reached a maximum of �200,000 for an individual claim to date, and settlements may also take account of injury to feelings. The website states that over 20,000 claims relating to non-compliance with the DDA have been submitted thus far.
However, there is also good economic argument to take account of the spending power of the more than 10 million disabled people in the UK. The Disability Rights Commission estimates that the spending power of these disabled people amounts to �50 billion per year. The argument there is that ignoring the DDA legislation means losing valuable custom.
Can you afford not to make changes? How are your competitors approaching the new laws?
Next: What should you do next?
