New equal access laws coming into force in October 2004 will have a dramatic effect on opening up business and services to disabled people in the UK, the Disability Rights Commission (DRC) said today (September 9).
Catherine Casserley, senior legislative advisor for the DRC, also predicted a future in Britain of increased assertiveness amongst disabled people no longer willing to tolerate a second-class service.
Ms Casserley outlined the steps that the DRC would be taking to ensure compliance with the new duties at a press briefing today.
In the run up to the October 1st deadline, the DRC is investing heavily in projects aimed at making sure that disabled people know about and assert their new rights post-October, Ms Casserley said. Increasing the capacity of disabled people and organisations to monitor progress and complain was also a key aim.
Part 3 of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) requires every business, large or small, to become more user-friendly to Britain's 10 million disabled people. The law means that businesses will need to make reasonable changes – such as adapting premises, removing physical barriers or providing the service another way – so that disabled people can use the service. The change will affect over two million British businesses. Failure to act could result in legal action.
Commenting on the business case for making improvements to disabled access, Ms Casserley said: “The DRC's year-long Open4All campaign has put at centre stage the real benefits of making service open for all.
“UK businesses will lose out on the £50 billion combined spending power of disabled people if they fail to make the improvements needed to ensure disabled access.
“But it's not just disabled people whose custom they will lose. A national poll by NOP, commissioned by the DRC, revealed that when confronted with poor access, seven in every 10 people would advise family or friends to use another service. The facts are clear that bad access really is bad for business.”
And Ms Casserley provided a stark warning to businesses and service providers that had made little or no efforts to remove barriers to access in time for the October deadline.
“Increased awareness and activism amongst disabled people after October 1st is a given and business and service providers should not be in denial about that,” she said.
“In this new setting there will be nowhere to run and nowhere to hide for businesses that have not made or planned improvements. Over the last year the DRC has been monitoring the progress of well known service providers and we will be looking to test the law at the earliest opportunity to achieve the maximum effect."