Disability Advice Pack For Business

FOLLOWING a survey carried out by Oxfordshire County Council, businesses are being offered advice packs regarding making provision for disabled people following the new Disability Discrimination Act 1995.
Under the Act, since October 2004, service-providers have had a duty to make reasonable adjustments for people with disabilities. If they don?t do this, then people with disabilities who feel they are being discriminated against could take a civil action against them.
The survey, which was carried out in Banbury, but could apply to any town. It showed that while some businesses in the town provide excellent facilities, others are less enlightened, despite the advent of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995.
The service-provider cannot wait until a person with disabilities complains before making adjustments. Under the Act the service-provider must anticipate the needs of people with disabilities.
Easy improvements could include putting D-shaped handles on doors, creating larger parking bays for blue badge holders or even just training staff to be more considerate.

Marks & Spencers, Debenhams, Woolworths were three retailers identified in the survey as providing an excellent service to people with disabilities.
Both Marks & Spencers and Debenhams offered special changing rooms, wide aisles, lifts with raised lettering on the control buttons and they had very helpful staff.
Woolworths was easy to get around because of the red flooring which people with poor sight can use to find their way through the store easily without walking into shelves.

However, some other shops featured changing rooms for people with disabilities that were full of stock or had such cluttered aisles that they were difficult for people to negotiate.

The survey ? carried out last summer by Julia Houghton, a day service worker from the Greenwood Day Services for older people with learning disabilities, and service-user Ruby Smillie – was mostly carried out in the Castle Quay shopping centre, but the duo also visited other services around the town, such as doctors? surgeries, dentists, pubs and eating-places.

Following the survey, a team led by Pauline Turner, manager of Greenwood Day Services, Banbury, met officers from Cherwell District Council.

For more information about making shop and services more accessible to people with disabilities please ring John Gregory, access officer at Cherwell District Council, on 01295 221630.