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Disabled Access Information
Access For Disabled People
Disabled people including:
- people with sensory loss
- cognitive impairment
- older people
- people with pushchairs
- young children
find it difficult to move around
independently and safely in the environment.
It is important that these problems
are recognised and much is done to remove barriers that prevent
people from leading an active life.
The built environment
must be able to adapt to meet both the changing needs of society
and the demands of the legislators. An inclusive approach to the
design of environment accepts that all users have a range of needs
and abilities and that these should be addressed by designs that
allow the majority of people to use the environment comfortably, as
independently as possible and, most importantly, safely.
The London Borough of
Redbridge is committed to creating an inclusive environment, which
will enable all people to move around safely, independently
and without undue restrictions.
Legislation
The
Equality Act 2010 (EA) streamlines and strengthens
anti-discrimination legislation in Great Britian. It replaces
a range of anti-discrimination legislation (such as the Disability
Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA) and subsequent amendments, the Race
Relations Act 1976 etc).
The
Equality Act 2010 aims to protect disabled people and prevent
disability discrimination. It provides legal rights for
disabled people in the areas of:
- employment
- education
- access to goods, services and facilities including larger
private clubs and land based transport services
- buying and renting land or property
- functions of public bodies, for example the issuing of
licences
More information about the Equality Act, and how you can obtain
copies of the Act, can be found on the Government Equalities Office
website.
Reasonable adjustments
Service providers have a 'duty to make reasonable
adjustments'. These include:
Changing provisions, criteria or practices where it puts
disabled people at a disadvantage e.g. you operate a nursery and
your admissions state that all children must be out of nappies
before they are accepted. A disabled child applies that is
still in nappies, this is due to his disability. It would be
reasonable to change this practice so he can join the
nursery. If the reason he was in nappies had nothing to do
with his disability you would not have to make any changes.
Providing auxiliary aids and services to support where failure
to do so would put disabled people at a substantial disadvantage
e.g. voice activated software.
Changing the physical features of a building where it put
disabled people at a substantial disadvantage (including outside,
entry, lighting, fixtures and fittings, etc) e.g. the layout of a
library is changed to make sure wheelchair users can access it and
picture signs are used to make it more accessible to users with
learning disabilities.
The duty to make reasonable adjustmenst is 'anticipatory', this
means that service providers must look at what kind of barriers
disabled people may face and proactively look at removing
these. Service providers should not wait until a disabled
person wants to use a service that they provide before they give
consideration to their duty to make reasonable adjustments, it must
be considered constantly.
Service providers are not expected to anticipate the needs of
every individual who may use their service, but what they are
required to think about and take reasonable steps to overcome are
features that may impede people with particular kinds of disability
- for example, people with visual impairments or mobility
impariments.
A service provider only has to do what is reasonable. When
deciding whether a change is reasonable they can consider:
- how effective the change will be in assisting disabled people
or a specific service user,
- its practicality,
- the cost,
- their resources and size,
- any health and safety issues.
A service provider can treat disabled people more favourably and
sometimes this may be part of the solution.
Further information could
be obtained from the Equality and Human Rights Commission
website
London Borough of
Redbridge 'Access for All' contains details of technical design
standards. If you would like to receive a copy in print, large
prints, Braille, contact the Access Officer.
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