Information & Fact Sheets

As part of our aim to promote accessibility, we offer guidance on those services which are accessible. We operate an advice and information service which can be accessed on the phone, fax, email, or by visiting the Richmond AID office at the DAAC.

The DAAC is an accessible building. We have a dedicated Access Officer who is available to businesses and local traders for consultations on how to improve the accessibility of your business, premises, and service [See the For Business section].

The Law: DDA explained

The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) gives disabled people important rights of access to everyday services. This includes the right to access council services, GP’s surgeries, banks, pubs, hotels, and theatres. Access to services is not just about putting ramps and wide doorways into shop entrances – it is about making services easier to use for all disabled people, including people who are blind, deaf, or have a learning disability.

Reasonable Adjustments

The DDA makes it unlawful for those who provide a service to treat disabled people less favourably than other people for a reason related to their disability. Service providers now have to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ to the way they deliver their services so that disabled people can use them. Examples of reasonable adjustments include:

• installing an induction loop for people who are hearing impaired
  
  
• giving the option to book tickets by email as well as by phone
  
  
• providing disability awareness training for staff who have contact with the public
  
  
• providing larger, clearer signs for people with impaired vision
  
  
• putting in a ramp at the entrance to a building instead of, or as well as, steps
  

What is a reasonable adjustment for a large organisation may be different to a reasonable adjustment for a small local shop. A large company may be able to completely refit their building, for example, but an individual trader on the high street may not be able to.

They could still make adjustment though: for example by making sure there is enough space in aisles and around the counter for people in a wheelchair and people with a visual impairment to get around the shop, or to display in their window that someone is available to give assistance to those who need it.

Fact Sheet examples i.e. Signage, Parking, Lighting, Counters & Reception - for more information, call Jamie Cutler on 020 8831 6072 or e-mail him at j.cutler@richmondaid.org.uk.