Disability Discrimination Act
Goods, facilities and services
All organisations that provide goods, facilities or services to the public, whether paid for or free, are covered by the Act.
Your questions answered
I recently asked for an organisation to send me some information on audio tape as I have a visual impairment due to my diabetes. I was told this was not possible. Are they acting unlawfully?
The organisation has a responsibility under the DDA to ensure that the products and services it provides are accessible to people with disabilities. This includes the provision of information in Braille, induction loops and audio tapes.
If you wish to have one-off recordings made of materials such as magazines or books, the Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB) will do this for you free of charge. Contact the Customer Liaison Team on 01733 370777, or write to RNIB Peterborough, PO Box 173, Peterborough PE2 6WS.
Diabetes UK has a number of its leaflets on tape for loan for people with visual impairment. Contact the Healthcare team on 020 7424 1000 for more details.
Also, Diabetes UK’s bi-monthly magazine Balance is available on audiotape, at no extra charge, as part of your membership. Please contact our Customer Services Team on 020 7424 1010 / customerservice@diabetes.org.uk to arrange this.
My local branch meetings of Diabetes UK are held in the church hall. I use a wheelchair and the hall doesn’t have wheelchair access, or facilities for disabled people such as disabled toilets. Can I ask them to provide access under the DDA?
The church should ensure that reasonable adjustments are made to allow wheelchair users to access the building. This could either be by installing a ramp or by making available an alternative entrance to the building in order for you to attend the meetings, so that you do not feel as if you have been discriminated against.
Adjustments must be reasonable, and no limits have been set on how much an organisation must spend in order to make their services accessible. What they actually do and how much they spend depends of what is considered reasonable, which depends on many factors such as the size of the organisation, how practical it is to make the alterations and the effect on the service.
Therefore in this case it may be reasonable for the church to install a ramp for access but not reasonable for them to build a disabled toilet.
We enjoy eating out regularly with our family and our youngest son, who has diabetes, injects his insulin discreetly at the table before his meal. We have been asked by the restaurant, which we visit regularly, if we would mind sitting at a table that is more secluded because of this. Our son is not embarrassed and is upset that he should be hidden away. Can the restaurant insist we sit in a more secluded position?
If the restaurant has asked you to sit out of view of other customers so that they do not see your son inject his insulin, it is acting unlawfully. Your son is being treated less favourably because of his diabetes.