The realisation that 2003 was the European Year of People with Disabilities may have passed many people by, but for travel agents, tour operators and others in the travel industry, issues of disability are becoming increasingly important.
Since October 1999, the Disability Discrimination Act has required UK service providers to consider methods of making reasonable adjustments to the way they deliver their services so that disabled people can use them.
This means that tour operators, travel agents and others should, for example, be able to provide large print brochure pages and documentation for people with visual impairment, have contingency plans for providing brochure or other holiday information to clients who are blind and make sure that brochures are accessible to wheelchair-bound customers in agency or tour operator premises. Travel industry businesses should also be prepared to deal with problems arising from customers who have hearing problems.
Meanwhile, the requirements for meeting the needs of people with disabilities are set to get tougher when a further phase of the Act comes into force from October 1 this year.
This will mean that service providers have to consider making reasonable adjustments to their premises so that disabled people have physical access. “
The sum total of the changes to the law is fairly substantial and people in the travel industry should take it seriously,” said The Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) head of consumer affairs Keith Richards. “But by the same token, you should not panic. The key word in this act is ‘reasonable’ and you won't be required to spend so much money that it will put you out of business.”
ABTA has been working to inform the travel trade of their new responsibilities with initiatives that include the drafting of a checklist which agents and operators can use to establish the requirements of travellers with disabilities and a series of training seminars to raise the awareness of the special needs that some travellers have.
ABTA's website features a general code of practice relating to the Disability Discrimination Act and the association is currently working on a travel industry-specific guide which is expected to be ready for publication late this summer.
Richards said that although the general perception was that issues of physical access to shops and offices were the most problematic requirement of the new law, the real difficulty in the travel industry was getting staff to understand the difficulties facing people with disabilities.
For that reason, ABTA has been running a series of disability and equality awareness workshops at its London headquarters in association with bodies such as the Royal National Institute of the Blind (RNIB).
Richards said that managers and staff giving a little thought to the problems of making information and services accessible to everyone could cover most of the requirements of the Act.