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New Government Accessibility Legislation has become a new area of exploit for unscrupulous companies. Businesses are cashing in by providing services and products, which they claim ensure compliance with Disability Discrimination Act and more importantly the third amendment of the DDA, which came into force on the 1st October 2004.
A lack of knowledge and understanding about the DDA makes it very easy for companies to pay for products and services that are ineffective or incomplete, but believe that they are accessible and are protected against compensation claims.
The television program "Watchdog" exemplified this problem by describing the case of two women, one in a wheelchair, who deliberately set about visiting shopkeepers and then making claims against 81 shops that could not provide a ramp on request.
At first glance it seems that it is going to cost businesses a small fortune to meet the new legislation. However, the law is clear about "reasonable adjustments"; this means that if a business is going to encounter great expense or disruption in making physical changes, it may be considered reasonable for them to make other changes that enable them to serve disabled customers.
This could be as simple as listening to the needs of customers with disabilities and responding with ways that make services more accessible to them. Such as providing notification that a shop assistant will be happy to fetch all of the customers items, without them having to enter the shop.
With this approach, the shop owner should continuously monitor the needs of their customer with disabilities and plan to make physical changes within a reasonable time.
To help companies gain a good understanding in the new legislation a number of expert companies have come together to deliver a first of its kind DDA Awareness DAY.
For more information visit dda.biz-training.com or contact Out of Hours on 0870 027 2463 (Textphone: 18001 0870 027 2463)
Article written by Out of Hours' Editorial Team.
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