Disabled Access

[JulieF]

Does anyone know whether to complain about somewhere not complying with the new disabled act regarding access to public buildings/shops you have to actually be disabled yourself?

Hi Julie; me again. I guess you don't have to be disabled to complain. If a law is being broken, it's being broken.

there is loads of signs up in train stations, saying disabled access before a certain date (it's now isnt it?) and ALL the train stations have hundreds of steps, it makes it completely impossible for me to catch the train with my dd unless there is just the two of us.

i would be interested in who to contact too, aswell

I would thought you could be a parent/guardian or carer of a person who is disabled though, to complain that is

This was on watchdog the other day and it is not as clear cut as they must make new access arrangements I am afraid - they have to, if possible, make adequate provisions I think.

You should be able to view the piece on the BBC website somewhere.

I think there are exemptions though, like listed buildings.

Have a look here for more info and links.

I can't see why you would have to be disabled to complain though.

This came up at the governors meeting recently. They have to take reasonable steps to provide access and draw up a 5 yr plan. I expect the same applies to other busiensses.

There is a group called the Disability rights commisssion. they deal with all sort of stuff like this.

Our House of Fraser is in a listed building and its disabled access (and large pram) is the goods lift!. Even so there are some areas of the store that cannot be accessed. I had a large hard bodied silver Cross Pram and when I complained I was told it was because it was a listed biulding and htey couldn't change the layout much. This was several years ago now though.

Lou, I can imagine that you would need to be disabled to complain. In exactly the same way that if you work in a company which is systematically disobeying the sex discrimination act, there is nothing you can do about it unless you are the victim of that discrimination. It's deliberately constructed so that the law doesn't work.

I would think you could complain on behalf of others though. I mean , I would have to with ds2,as he wouldn't be able to do it himself. I think it would be quite reasonable to complain on behalf of others, although I don't really know what I am talking about , lol

There is a piece about this in Which this month - "The Disability Rights Commission wants people to nominate the places with best and worse access. For information, visit open4all "

It just says people, not disabled people/carers, so presumably anybody can nominate!

hello jan

Hello lou, darling! How are you and your pills today?

Slightly reduced now thank you . Disposed of the valium, now. Not sure if i am happy or sad about that though

The reason I asked is because I am fed up to the back teeth of attempting to get the double pushchair up a flight of steps into the bank. Every week I have to rely on someone being around to give me a lift.

Perhaps I need to persuade my wheelchair bound great aunt to come with me!

Anyone can complain as the law is about providing access, and if you can't access a building / service then you are being discriminated against unfairly.
However, as Katherine says, the law only obliges companies to take reasonable steps to provide this access. My local train station only has a bridge to get across the platforms, and disabled people or those with pushchairs can't get up and down the 20-odd steps. Railtrack, or whoever it is who owns the station, says that it wouldn't be cost effective to make the alterations immediately, and so has shelved them for the forseeable future. It appears that they can get away with it by saying that the alterations are unreasonable.
I had the same problem with my local bank having stairs up to it (couldn't even get a single pushchair up there let alone a double), and they use the "old building" excuse too. So I closed my account and opened one with the HSBC across the street, as they had just put in a ramp and automatic door.