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November 11, 2004
What new rights?!
So much for our newly established rights under the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA: 1995)! Since October 2004, service providers are supposed to make reasonable adjustments to the physical features of their premises to overcome physical barriers to access. However, after reading the new regulations in more depth, I have discovered that services are not actually required to provide physically accessible environments for disabled people unless there is no practical alternative! So far as access to goods and services is concerned, access is to the goods and services rather than to the building from which these services are normally provided. In which case, the law doesn't really help me at all. In my experience, it is the physical environment that prevents me from accessing goods and services - that's why I thought the new law was introduced! I just want to be treated in the same way as everyone else and I feel that this law only serves to reinforce existing social barriers.
Posted by Lianne at November 11, 2004 04:01 PM