Advice to businesses and service providers on the subject of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA)
The Disability Discrimination Act part III concerning providers of goods, services or facilities came into effect on October 1 2004. The act aims to end the discrimination that many disabled people face. There are around 10 million disabled adults in this country and the Disability Discrimination Act gives them important rights of access to everyday services and employment opportunities that others take for granted.
If your organisation is not accessible to disabled people, you could be missing out on a lot of potential customers. Disabled customers have a combined spending power of over £80 billion, as well as facing the possibility of having to defend yourself or company in court for Disability Discrimination. So making your services more accessible to all disabled people should be a priority to your business.
To be able to best meet the many requirements of the DDA you first need to know in what areas your business is currently non-compliant. This is best achieved by the means of an Access Audit that will examine all areas of disability including those with Visual impairments, Hearing impairments, Physical disabilities including disabled and ambient disabled as well as learning difficulties. Many businesses have spent a great deal of money on alterations to their buildings or services in their own attempt to comply to the DDA, only to find that money had been spent in areas that would be deemed ‘Unreasonable Adjustment’ by a competent Access Auditor, or in many cases costly alterations had been made that did not comply to the many requirements of the DDA.
When employing the services of a DDA Access Auditor, care should be taken to ensure that they fully comprehend and put into practice ‘Reasonable Adjustment’ As recommended by both the DDA and the DRC (Disability Rights Commission) It is not a case of simply employing the services of an Access Auditor or Access Consultant that may be a member of the N.R.A.C (National Register Of Access Consultants) Many Access Consultants simply work to the requirements of the Building Regulations Part M or British Standards 8300 and have not comprehended or understood ‘Reasonable Adjustment’ Simply following these stringent regulations without considering ‘Reasonable Adjustment’ could cost your business a great deal of unnecessary money!
Access All Areas is an Access Audit service offers a unique high quality cost effective approach to compliance of the Disability Discrimination Act. Their high level of understanding of disability needs is greatly enhanced by the presence of a qualified access auditor that is himself a wheelchair user. Access All Areas fully understands and places ‘Reasonable Adjustment’ at the forefront of every Access Audit report and gives great consideration to the size of your business as well as your current available finances.
Access All areas are based in Essex and offers national coverage. Access All Areas can be contacted on 01255-242777. For more information see www.access-auditing.com
So in answer to the question Should Businesses Be Afraid Of The DDA? The answer is NO the DDA should be embraced but businesses and service providers should be afraid of choosing the wrong Access Auditor/Consultant!
