British antidiscrimination law takes effect;
businesses grumble
A law modeled on the Americans with Disabilities Act took effect in England in October, requiring millions of owners of businesses, sports facilities and government offices to take "reasonable" efforts to make them accessible.
"From the corner shop to the government agency, everyone providing goods, facilities or services will have to think about what changes they can make to help their disabled customers," Disability Rights minister Margaret Hodge said.
Businesses were upset, with a spokesman for the UK Federation of Small Businesses saying the new legislation would have "a disproportionate effect on small businesses". The London Chamber of Commerce, though, noted that "any business which is reluctant to implement these changes should realize there are 8.5 million people in this country with some form of disability" and spoke of the spending power of such a large segment of society.
Requirements for physical changes to buildings will not be required until 2004.
The majority of businesses are not ready for new legislation preventing discrimination against disabled people, according to leading charities.
Studies by the Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB) and the Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID) show that service industries are not geared up for implementation of key parts of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA).
The RNIB says a survey shows three quarters of local branches of UK companies approached in a secret shopping exercise did not know about the DDA.
Nearly one in four high street stores would not provide a member of staff to help a blind or partially sighted customer around the shop, it said.
Less than half could provide information in a form which was easy to read for those with sight problems, such as large print or Braille.
The RNIB says a recent poll shows that 80% of people think failure to provide information in a way that can be read by the blind or partially sighted should be made illegal.
Nearly four out of 10 admitted to finding it hard to read the small print in many documents and it is estimated that more than 1.5 million people in the UK have difficulty reading standard-sized print.
"The solutions are straightforward," said Steve Winyard of the RNIB. "Production of information in Braille, tape, large print or on disk is easier and cheaper than people think.
"Far too many businesses are out of step with public opinion and the new law."
A survey by the RNID showed that nearly two-thirds of service-oriented businesses are not ready for the DDA legislation. Sixty-one per cent had not taken any action to comply with the legislation. The vast majority of these either said they did not know about the new stipulations or did not think they were relevant to them.
Fifty-three per cent had not even made any adjustments regarding disability discrimination legislation introduced three years ago.
Information provided by BBC dispatches.
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