DDA - Disability Discrimination Act
Who needs to be concerned about DDA?
Part 3 of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 1995 is concerned with fair access to goods, facilities and services, and states that:
It is unlawful for the providers of goods, facilities and services to treat disabled people less favourably, and service providers must make reasonable adjustments for these customers.
Furthermore, since October 2004, service providers must consider making changes to their premises so that there are no physical barriers to prevent disabled people using their services.
DDA affects most organisations in some way.
Businesses such as shops, banks, restaurants, hotels, as well as premises such as libraries, church halls and community centres all need to meet DDA's requirements, to allow disabled people equal access to their services and facilities.
Employers have a duty to treat employees or potential employees with disabilities equally, and make reasonable adjustments for them in the work environment and work conditions.
Educational Establishments also have a disability equality duty to their students and potential students.
How Can We Help?
Access Audits
An Access Audit is an assessment of your premises, with a detailed report outlining how accessible your services are to disabled people. We include suggestions and recommendations for action in the report, as well as an appendix with useful contacts.
For Employers
For employers, we can provide assessments of an individual employee's needs, if they are having difficulty at work due to injury, ill health or disability. We can carry out a workplace assessment where we look at the employees needs, the demands of their job and the work environment. We will then write a report in which we will make recommendations for action which we feel will meet the needs of your employee, so they can do their job.
We can also carry out workstation assessments for an individual or a group of staff , for example in an office, where we look at their workstations, seating and work tasks, and can advise on ergonomic solutions.
For Educational Establishments
For universities and colleges, we can provide a similar service to that to employers, to help students with health problems, injury or disability to successfully follow their studies.
Useful Links
Department of Work and Pensions( DDA for Employers) : www.dwp.gov.uk/employers/dda
Centre for Accessible Environments : www.cae.org.uk