Forum Brief: Disability access

Disabilities Trust public affairs officer Matt Townsend said: "It is to be regretted that so many smaller businesses and heritage sites are claiming they cannot meet the October deadline for complying with the accessibility demands of the DDA.

"It must be remembered that under the Act, business owners are only being asked to provide 'reasonable' access and as the DRC point out businesses are not required to make changes that will result in excessive cost and inconvenience.

 

"To our mind reasonable would not include measures that might force them to close! We do understand the particular difficulties that heritage sites face trying to square planning rules with the DDA but it is to be hoped that a workable accommodation can be found. And in the last analysis it is surely not unreasonable to ensure that all citizens whether able bodied or not can access our most important and popular heritage sites."

 

Forum Response: English Heritage

 

A spokesperson for English Heritage told ePolitix.com: "There are a number of key issues that need to be adequately considered. Some of these are already explicitly identified in the Disability Rights Commission’s Code of Practice, others follow logically.

 

"The first and most important is that of reasonableness, including the extent to which it is practical for the service provider to take various steps and the extent of the service provider’s financial and other resources. This is particularly important as the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) and the Code of Practice do not identify what would constitute compliance, hence it is likely to vary according to circumstances.