Guide to the Disability Discrimination Act

The Disability Discrimination Act was passed in 1995 and applies to all employers and services providers. It is supported and enforced by the Disability Rights Commission which was established in April 2000 with the remit to develop the law, educate business and service providers and investigate, conciliate and take legal action in cases of discrimination.

Under the DDA, it is unlawful for service providers to treat disabled people less favourably than they would other people, for a reason relating to their disability without justification, e.g.

• Refusing or deliberately not providing a service which it offers to others
• Providing a lower standard of service
• Offering a service on worse terms

Service providers are also under an obligation to:

• take reasonable steps to change practices, policies and procedures that make it impossible or unreasonably difficult for disabled people to use their services
• take reasonable steps to provide auxiliary aids or services that would enable or make it easier for disabled people to use their services
• take reasonable steps to provide an alternative method of making their service available to a disabled person where a physical feature of the service provider's premises makes it impossible or unreasonably difficult for disabled people to use the service.

From 1st October 2004, service providers will also have to take reasonable steps to remove or alter physical features of premises, which make it impossible or unreasonably difficult for disabled people to use a service, or to provide a reasonable means of avoiding the feature.

The two main sections of the DDA which apply to theatres are Part II: Employment and Part III: Service Provision. Part II applies to any business employing more than 15 people regardless or their employment status including, for instance, part time, temporary and contract staff.

Service provision applies to all departments and aspects of a theatre's work including box office, restaurant, shop, front of house, back stage etc and every individual involved in delivering service is responsible for complying with the Act - including touring company members resident in a receiving house.

Reasonable Adjustments

It is unlawful to not make "reasonable adjustments" to the way services are provided to ensure it is not impossible or "unreasonably difficult" for a disabled person to use goods, facilities and services.

Reasonable adjustments are not defined in the Act and will vary depending on the type of service, the size and resources of the theatre and the effect on the disabled person. Nevertheless the Government's code of practice recommends that service providers plan ahead and establish "a positive policy on provision of goods, facilities and services which ensures inclusion of disabled persons and which is communicated to all staff". This includes regular monitoring of access policies, disability awareness training for staff and consultation with disabled people to ensure evolving improvements.

Unreasonably Difficult

Again the Act does not define "unreasonably difficult" but the recommendation is that providers should "take account of whether the time, inconvenience, effort and discomfort entailed ... would be considered unreasonable by other people if they had to endure similar difficulties".

Auxiliary Aids and Services

Different venues and situations will require particular solutions, but these are some frequently used auxiliary aids.

For people with physical mobility difficulties:

• Portable ramps
• Pre-booking and telephone information services
• Chairs for use when waiting, queuing etc
• "evac chairs" to assist in getting a wheelchair user off the building in case of fire.

For people who are Deaf and hard of hearing :

• Text phone, fax and email booking facilities
• Qualified BSL interpreters and lip speakers
• Subtitles
• Induction loops
• Front of house staff equipped with pen and paper
• Clear English for written information
• Visual fire alarms

For people who are visually impaired

• Information in sans serif large print (18point size), Braille, audio and computer disc
• Spoken announcements
• Audio description on video
• Tactile orientation maps of theatre and the stage scenery
• Tactile signage eg male and female toilet icons
• A personal guide to help with wayfinding
• Touch tours of the set

Information Sources

Disability Rights Commission
Telephone: 08457 622 633
Textphone: 08457 622 644
(You can speak to an operator at any time between 8am and 8pm, Monday to Friday)
Fax: 08457 778 878
Post: DRC Helpline
FREEPOST MID02164
Stratford upon Avon
CV37 9BR

More information can be found at www.disablity.gov.uk.

For full details on the DDA visit www.legislation.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts1995/1995050.htm. DDA publications can be ordered on 020 7873 9090, fax 020 7873 8200, text 0345 622 644.

For full details of the Code of Practice visit www.disability.gov.uk/dda/finalcode.rtf.

Developing an Access Policy: Although this fact sheet is produced by the Museums and Galleries Commission, it offers a clear structure that other organisations and art forms can adapt to meet their needs. www.museums.gov.uk/pdf/education/Dev_Access_Policy.pdf