Help the disabled without ramping up the cost

ALTHOUGH it came into effect almost a year and a half ago, many service providers remain either unaware of their requirements under the terms of the Disability Discrimination Act or are labouring under the misconception that it relates specifically to the building, and will require expensive modifications to be made to a building's infrastructure in order to achieve compliance.

In fact, the DDA is about people, not property, and its definition of what constitutes a disability is far broader than someone confined to a wheelchair.

And rather than requiring significant expenditure in order to comply with the DDA, relatively simple and straightforward alterations to operational procedures might well be all that is required.

The notion that service providers must ensure that steps are taken to enable wheelchair access into every part of every building at all times is quite wrong.

In fact, there are various ways to comply with the DDA without having to make any physical alterations to the building from which a service is provided.

Rather than compelling all organisations to undertake all steps required to deliver unlimited access to all disabled people all of the time, the DDA requires service providers only to undertake reasonable measures under the circumstances. And what will be regarded as reasonable for a small business is unlikely to be what will be regarded reasonable for a large firm.

In its Code of Practice, the Disability Rights Commission lists various factors that will be taken into consideration when considering reasonable-ness, such as the likely effectiveness of the proposed step, the practicability for the service provider to take the step, the disruption such a step might cause, whether or not the service provider can afford it and what other resources have been expended already on making adjustments relating to the DDA.

For the purposes of the DDA, someone is regarded as having a disability if he or she has a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on his or her ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities, be that sight, hearing, speech, mobility, severe disfigurement, continence or the ability to concentrate, learn or understand.

The installation of a ramp to enable wheelchair access is unlikely to be of much assistance to someone with poor eyesight, whilst entrance signs printed in a larger and more readily legible typeface just might make all the difference - and at negligible expense.

So, before service providers rush out to call in the shopfitters, it's worth taking the time to speak firstly to a surveyor to determine whether there might be a more reasonable, practicable and cost-effective means of complying with the DDA.

• Bruce Laidlaw is an associate at Ross + Liddell

This article: http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/business.cfm?id=236872006

Last updated: 15-Feb-06 11:20 GMT