Disability Discrimination Act 1995 fact sheet

The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) places duties on employers and service providers not to treat disabled people less favourably than others. The Act encompasses employment provisions; public access to goods, facilities and services; and education and transport.

Under the DDA, three duties are placed on service providers:

• to review policies, procedures and practices
• to provide auxiliary aids where necessary
• to make reasonable adjustments to physical barriers

Under Part III of the Act, services providers should have removed physical barriers to ensure access to public goods, facilities and services by 1 October 2004. Other services, such as Education, have different timescales.

The DDA focuses on the provision of services and making them accessible to disabled people. The DDA does not require every building to be altered. Buildings are only affected where a service is provided and there is a barrier to access that service. Service providers must undertake reasonable adjustments and may provide the service in an alternative way to meet the requirements of the legislation.

All works, whether undertaken by KCC or by the building occupier, should be designed to the Part M Building Regulations (May 2004). This should be in conjunction with British Standard BS 8300:2001 - Design of Buildings and their approaches to meet the needs of disabled people - Code of Practice. Where there is any conflict between the two documents, the higher standard should be used. On smaller works, where there is no design input from a construction professional, advice is available from the Centre of Accessible Environments publication - Designing for Accessibility.

Useful links

Disability Discrimination Act 1995

Equality and Human Rights Commission
Helpline: 0845 604 6610
Textphone: 0845 604 6620
The Equality and Human Rights Commission is an independent body established by the Government to eliminate discrimination, including discrimination towards disabled people. Services include a telephone helpline, legal advice and appropriate support for individuals. They also hold the Codes of Practice for specific parts of the DDA that were originally set up by the Disability Rights Commission (now amalgamated).

The Centre for Accessible Environments (CAE)
Tel: 020 7357 8182
The CAE is a registered charity, specialising in providing information between providers and users on the practicalities of inclusive design and modifying existing building. They produce publications, including the best selling - Designing for Accessibility, access consultancy, training and research.

British Standard Institution
BS 8300:2001 - Design of buildings and their approaches to meet the needs of disabled people. This document is the fundamental technical reference document for designing buildings accessible to people with disabilities.

National Register of Access Consultants (NRAC)
The NRAC is a UK-wide accreditation service which provides details of access auditors and consultants.