|
For disabled people, moving or travelling around can be
difficult. We want to make sure that everyone can use the pavements
and roads in Kent. We are doing this by understanding disabled
people's needs and taking account of those needs in all new
plans.
Does the Disability Discrimination Act say what rights disabled
people have?
The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA) gives disabled people
rights to do with employment, accessing goods, facilities and
services, and buying or renting land or property.
Part 3 of the act gives disabled people a right to access goods,
facilities, services and buildings. It is based on the idea that
people who offer services should not discriminate against disabled
people.
What kind of thing has to be done?
The Department for Transport has produced guidance on what we need
to include in new services or facilities.
Sometimes there can be physical features that make it
impossible, or unreasonably difficult, for disabled people to use a
service or a facility. If so, whoever provides the service or
facility must do whatever they can to make it available to
everyone.
This may be done by:
- removing the feature which is causing the problem;
- changing it so that it no longer prevents access;
- providing a way for people to avoid it; or
- providing another way for disabled people to use the
service.
What work have you done so far?
We make sure all new services and facilities meet the needs of
disabled people, and we look at all existing services and
facilities to see if there are any problems.
Checking existing services
Over the last three years, we have concentrated on making
controlled pedestrian crossings (such as zebra crossings and
pelican crossings) easier for disabled people to use.
We are also looking at what changes we need to make to other
facilities on the roads and pavements. A group of disabled people
helped decide how to do this. We are focusing on town centres,
where there are most pedestrians, so work we carry out will benefit
more people. We are finding that the most asked-for change is
dropping the kerb to the same level as the road to help make
crossing the road easier.
How do you train your staff for this role?
Design engineers, safety auditors and highway inspectors all take
part in a full Disability Discrimination Act training programme. A
group of disabled people and experts specialising in disability
have helped make sure this training is of a high quality and is
effective.
We have also designed more interactive training. This will help
to update and increase our staff's knowledge and awareness of
disability.
What about everybody else?
Although the main purpose of these improvements is to make it
easier for disabled people to travel around, these changes can also
help many other people. People travelling with small children,
elderly people, people carrying luggage or heavy shopping and
people with temporary mobility problems will all benefit from
services and facilities which are easier to
use.
|