Don't ignore disabled

Oct 4 2005 By Evening Gazette

A year on and scores of businesses are paying scant regard to a piece of legislation.

Many are still failing to provide adequate access for the disabled.

During the last year, more than 1,500 calls have been made to a special helpline set up by the Disability Rights Commission (DRC).

Under laws introduced last October, all businesses are required to ensure they are equally accessible to disabled people - or they risk a hefty fine.

But many are flouting the rules. More than half the complaints received by the DRC in the past year have involved premises in the retail and pub/restaurant sectors, with the most common complaint concerning toilets.

Bert Massie, DRC chairman, said: "We will vigorously pursue offenders through the courts."

In today's tough trading conditions - particularly in the retail sector - firms are foolish to ignore the considerable spending power wielded by disabled customers. The DRC estimates it to be £50bn a year.

Often only simple changes are needed, such as grab rails, wheelchair-friendly shop layouts, and a ramp at the entrance.

Business managers and owners should experience for themselves what the world is like for a disabled person.

There are training courses designed for this, where participants wear two pairs of latex gloves, put on goggles that mirror eye-sight problems, insert earplugs to muffle sound, wear rubber swimming rings on arms to replicate joint restrictions, and hang weights on wrists and ankles to show how difficult the likes of arthritis can make movement.

And then they would know first-hand what improvements need to be made to their premises.