Disability and Discrimination
Disability and Discrimination
The DDA states that you must not treat disabled customers unfairly, no matter what size your company is.
There are lots of things you can do. Some changes don’t cost very much, such as providing a seat for people who have mobility impairments and cannot stand for very long. If you are unsure how you can assist a disabled person, you could consider asking them what you can do to help.
If you can’t make adjustments like these to your service for a disabled person, you must consider whether there are other ways of providing an equivalent service, such as home delivery, where this is reasonable.
New provisions
The DDA 2005 addresses the limitations of current legislation by extending disabled people’s rights in respect of premises that are let or to be let, and commonhold premises.
Reasonable adjustments
From 4 December 2006, landlords and managers of let premises and premises that are to let will be required to make reasonable adjustments for disabled people. Under the new duties, provided certain conditions are met (for example, that a request has been made), landlords and managers of premises which are to let, or of premises which have already been let, must make reasonable adjustments, and a failure to do so will be unlawful unless it can be justified under the Act. They might need to alter their policies, practices or procedures;
Provide auxiliary aids or services;
or change the terms of a letting (but only in respect of premises that have already been let).
For example a landlord may have to, where reasonable,
• use the Typetalk service when communicating with a profoundly deaf
person where he would usually telephone other tenants
• put correspondence in large print for a visually impaired tenant, or
• allow a disabled tenant to use her balcony to dry clothes where she cannot access the drying area of her block of flats because of her disability.
Landlords will only have to make reasonable adjustments. And they will not have to remove or alter physical features of the premises. Regulations (SI 2006/887) set out things which are, and things which are not, to be treated as a physical feature. For example, features arising from the design or construction of the premises are to be treated as a physical feature. But things like furniture and furnishings are not to be treated as a physical feature. In addition certain things such as the replacement of taps and door handles are not to be treated as an alteration of a physical feature, and in certain
circumstances these things may need to be provided by the landlord or manager as an auxiliary aid or service.
For example, a landlord would not be required to replace a door for a disabled tenant, if the tenant had difficulty opening it, however, it might be reasonable for the landlord to replace the door handle with a more usable one if that would mean the tenant could open the door.
These new duties of reasonable adjustment will not apply, however, to
• prospective lettings where landlords let their only or principal home and do not use the services of an estate agent to arrange the letting;
or
• a letting where the landlord lets their only or principal home and does not use a professional management agent to manage the letting; or
• certain small dwellings, for example, where a landlord or manager lives on the premises and there is not normally residential accommodation on the premises for more than six persons.
There is no discrimination where a landlord’s failure to comply with the duty can be justified under the Act.
Commonhold
The duty of less favourable treatment and reasonable adjustment will also apply to commonhold. This is a new system of freehold ownership for blocks of flats, shops, offices and other multiple occupation premises in England and Wales. A commonhold is made up of individual freehold properties which are known as commonhold units.