Some people really need to get out more. It’s good for them, it’s good for businesses and it’s essentially why we set up About Access in the first place.
Consider the advances made in the last 20 years or so with equipment designed to give disabled people the same quality of life as others.
Mobility scooters and induction loops are two obvious examples, and there are many more. But all the technological progress in the world is of only limited value if building design and public attitudes are stuck in the past. That’s where we come in.
About Access works to help organisations avoid costly and damaging conflict by ensuring that their premises are accessible. We help you make sure staff are properly trained – capable of recognising how certain features and scenarios can be disabling to some customers and colleagues, and of understanding how to overcome the problems.
Our Managing Director, Ian Streets, has been working in the sector since 2000 and he formed About Access in 2006. As a member of the National Register of Access Consultants, the Access Association and Network Rail’s Built Environment Access Panel (BEAP) he works with BSI Standards, the UK’s national standards body, to advise on appropriate designs for buildings and their surrounding areas.
His motivation isn’t money – although there are those who take an opportunistic approach – but is based on a desire to bring together disabled people and the companies and organisations which sometimes fall short in providing products and services.
He said: “Having had experience of some of the problems which disabled people face I thought I knew a lot about disability, but I found out that I actually knew very little and I found the subject absolutely fascinating.”
Ian is not a campaigner and he doesn’t try to catch businesses out. Clients tend to be local authorities or organisations of a significant size but there are small organisations as well. The approach is all about preventing problems by anticipating issues at the design stage.
Ian said: “We were called in by the owners of a ground floor shop of around 700 square feet to give advice in readiness for them rebuilding after a flood. It was an example of a proactive approach by a small, private business and it is the right thing to do but unfortunately it’s the exception rather than the rule.”
About Access conducted an access audit giving recommendations on the need to think about the physical features of the property and how to enhance accessibility.
Bigger projects have taken About Access across the UK and abroad to advise on accessibility issues in buildings ranging from huge office blocks to entertainment venues, heritage sites, churches, leisure centres, visitor attractions, public transport facilities, shops, sports venues, hotels, healthcare sites, residential complexes, lifts, even a floating pontoon for a Mediterranean beach!
But the physical obstacles presented by some buildings are only part of the story. The key is to raise awareness of the sort of problems that can occur.
Ian said: “People need to be open-minded. They need to be prepared to change the way they have always done things. Most of the time the people who bring us in recognise they need to do something and they are open to change.
“Occasionally you will get someone in an organisation who cannot see the benefits of making provision for disabled customers, visitors and employees and who just thinks it’s a waste of time and money. It is only through dialogue that you can change their perceptions. Sometimes disabled people are perceived only as those who use wheelchairs. It is important to understand that disability is about much more than that.”
As part of raising awareness, About Access has tried to explode a few myths. We still hear properties described as “DDA compliant”, and that cannot be right. The DDA was replaced in 2010 by the Equality Act, but neither piece of legislation gives design guidance or information on where to look for design guidance, so they don’t give you anything to comply with.
Saying something is “fully accessible” assumes that guidance covers all impairments, which is impossible to achieve. What the Equality Act says is that a service provider should, as far as possible, anticipate the barriers that a disabled person may face on using their service. They should make reasonable adjustments to overcome the anticipated barriers, and again to prevent discrimination against a particular individual arising from a physical feature of the premises or a policy of the organisation.
Consider the example of an independent sandwich shop which displays a menu on boards behind the counter. Staff will read it out for customers, and they also provide a flyer showing the menu. But one customer has impaired vision and hearing so this arrangement doesn’t work for them. Providing the menu in a large font, printed on plain paper with good colour contrast would be seen as a reasonable adjustment and would involve modest cost.
Also, there is a common view that legislation is toothless and discrimination against disabled people never leads to court action. However there is plenty of evidence to show that court cases have arisen around access issues facing employees. There are not so many cases around service provision, but the reality is that many actions are settled out of court because of cost and the fear of adverse publicity.
There is also a perception that good advice about accessibility is expensive and unnecessary. But taking a proactive approach will enable you to demonstrate that your premises are more accessible and you have carried out due diligence. It can save you the cost of defending claims and it will help you build your business by enabling you to welcome more disabled people as customers.
If you want to know more about accessibility issues, or you have a question or concern, please contact us at info@aboutaccess.co.uk
