Disability is not always obvious. The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) defines a person as disabled if they have a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on a person's ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities such as such as reading, writing, using the telephone, having a conversation and travelling by public transport. 'Long-term' usually means the impairment should have lasted or be expected to last at least a year and 'Substantial' means not minor or trivial.
As an employer and or 'Service Provider' you must ensure that access is available to all disabled people and that entry routes, facilities and all information is clearly defined and indicated by suitable signage.
Any organisation with 15 or more staff will also not be able to discriminate against disabled people in terms of recruitment and employment conditions. The new provisions are a further important step forward to ensuring that disabled people have access to services that others take for granted.
You are expected to anticipate and make the reasonable adjustments to your premises and to plan ahead. You will need to look at and make appropriate signage and marking of:
- car parking bays
- setting down points
- routes to and around your building
- entrances and exits
- directions to facilities, i.e. lifts, stairs, toilets etc.
- information and additional help for disabled
- emergency exit routes
- enhancement of existing signage
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