Access Newsletter: September 2012
News desk
Access: Cafe brands wheelchair user a safety hazard
Access: Broads access for disabled anglers on River Waveney
Access (Wales): One-in-ten admits to illegal parking in accessible parking bays.
Alzheimer's: Care home recreates 1950s street
Architecture (USA): Recycling the Tower in the Park for retirees
Disabled people: New disability action alliance announced to deliver strategy
Discrimination: A beginner’s guide to the ban on age discrimination
Discrimination (Northern Ireland): School refused to enrol boy with diabetes
Discrimination (USA): Bank of America settles loan discrimination charges
Discrimination (USA): Airline refuses service toparents with disabled son ......
Education: Proposals to reform provision for students with SEN......
Equality: Chartered Institute of Housing equality and diversity charter
Government: Cabinet reshuffle
Inclusion: Catch up with the Paralympics vibe – stop excluding people
Independence (Wales): Governmentplans for a Wales accessible to all
Legislation (USA): So sorry, people with special needs are not profitable
Lifetime homes: A third of homeowners would rather renovate than relocate
London 2012: RNIB attacks LOCOG and Visa over inaccessible cashpoints
London 2012: Legacy plan published
Planning: Common sense planning reform to create more homes
Research: Coming in and Going out
Sport: Sports clubs urged to encourage disabled people to take up sport
Sport (Russia): Sochi 2014 accessibility preparations ahead of schedule
Telecare: Postcode lottery in access to telecare revealed by audit
Welfare reform: Bedroom tax worries parent of disabled children
Publications, consultations and reports
Codes of practice: Employment, services and equal pay......
Draft review: Design of accessible and adaptable general needs housing
Guidance: The Design of Streets with Older People in Mind
Guidance: Building for Life 12
Guide: Myth-busting guide to buying energy-saving light bulbs launched
Local Transport Note: Shared use 1 / 12
Report: Local authorities’ work with visually impaired people
Research: Study finds 17 per cent of visually impaired people avoid shopping
Review: The Coastal Access scheme
Events
Event: Keeping safe and maintaining independence
Conference: The NRAC Autumn Conference and TTAT launch......
Award: Bathroom Design for All Award
Conference: The Big Debate - South East Regional Equality Conference
Event: Enabled by Design-athon
The London Conference 2012
Forum: Independent Living: Providing Greater Choice
Event: The Future of Digital Communications in the Public Sector......
Access Newsletter – September 2012
1
News desk
Access: Cafe brands wheelchair user a safety hazard
A man has spoken of his disgust at being branded a health and safety hazard because he uses a wheelchair.
Door staff refused Luke Kenshole entry to the first floor of Cafe Mambo in Torquay, Devon earlier this month. Mr Kenshole said: ‘What's the point of being inspired by the Paralympics if you can't go out for a drink with your mates.’ But Lifestyle Hospitality Group which operates the venue said safety was paramount and staff had acted in an appropriate manner.
Mr Kenshole was with a group of nine friends, including Emily Rookes, who told the door staff they would be responsible for him and were happy to carry him up and down the stairs. ‘They told him he was a health and safety hazard and he couldn't go upstairs,’ Ms Rookes said.
Mr Kenshole said the door staff should have treated him with dignity. ‘They should have taken me aside and explained it discreetly instead of shouting it in public that I was a safety hazard,’ he said.
A spokesperson for Lifestyle Hospitality said Mr Kenshole was not refused entry, as he was told he could be accommodated in the club's ground floor Beach Hut, which has disabled access and facilities.
‘I really don't want this to have a negative effect on Mambo's business, because it's supposed to be a great venue, but I would very much like them to review their policy,’ Mr Kenshole said.
For further information, visit the BBC News website
Access: Broads access for disabled anglers on River Waveney
Opportunities to fish on the Broads have been improved for wheelchair users with the installation of platforms along the River Waveney.
Costing £50,000, the 10 wooden platforms and boardwalk have improved access on an existing 150 metre (500 foot) of reed bed at Worlingham, Suffolk.
Mark Casto, Chairman of the Broads Angling Strategy Group said: ‘This is a fantastic resource. We're opening up the river to people who couldn't get here and fish before.’
The project has been funded by the Broads Authority and Environment Agency.
A new bank upstream has also been prioritised for angling to compensate for a restriction on fishing from the adjacent small and busy 24-hour mooring at Worlingham.
‘I've fished the River Waveney since I was a boy,’ said Mr Casto.
‘A few years ago we had a muddy bank, but we've just had somebody down today really pleased that although he's disabled he can fish off a safe peg (platform) and enjoy a great day's fishing.’
For further information, visit the BBC News website
Access (Wales): One-in-ten admits to illegal parking in spaces reserved for disabled drivers
The worst offenders were found to be people aged between 45 and 55; among whom one-in-six confessed that they invaded these reserved spaces often.
These abuses of the ‘Blue Badge’ parking system emerged in a survey of 1,009 people conducted on behalf of the Welsh Government as part of a drive to encourage greater respect for the parking rights of disabled vehicle users. The initiative was also supported by legendary Paralympic athlete, Dame Tanni Grey Thomson; herself a Blue Badge holder.
It follows the recent introduction of new-style Blue Badges for legitimate users of Blue Badge spaces. The badge contains additional security features to help the authorities identify improper use and prevent forgeries and is free across Wales but not in England and Scotland.
The Welsh Government has stated its intention to crack down on the so-called space invaders who either park in a designated space without a Blue Badge or use a badge fraudulently.
Abuse of the Blue Badge parking system denies spaces to legitimate users; often causing them major inconvenience or physical pain when they are forced to park further away from shops or other facilities.
Despite significant flouting of the rules, the results of the survey also revealed strong public support for tougher policing of the system.
Nearly 70 per cent of respondents said it was never acceptable to park in an accessible space without a permit, with only 6 per cent arguing that it is acceptable if someone is in a hurry or only wants to stay a few minutes.
In addition more than a third of those questioned said illegal users of these spaces should be clamped or towed away, with only 20 per cent saying a fine of less than £100 was appropriate.
Although the new-style badges are issued by local councils, they are linked to a new UK database of eligible users. This makes it much easier for police and parking wardens anywhere in the country to verify whether or not a badge is being used legitimately.
For further information, visit the Information Daily website
Alzheimer's: Care home recreates 1950s street
With its traditional local pub, quaint cafe and greengrocers, adverts on the walls and ration books on the tables, a stroll along this street is like stepping back to the 1950s.
But this is a road that is special not merely for its nostalgia. For Memory Lane has been carefully constructed by a care home to help its residents who have dementia and Alzheimer’s to feel more comfortable. It is even hoped it could improve their ability to recall their own pasts.
Architects studied photographs of 1950s streets to properly capture the era in the design of the shops and pub. Then staff combed through scrap yards, charity shops and auction websites to unearth the perfect objects to fill the buildings. They found original adverts as well as an authentic phone box and post box.
Residents can read newspapers and magazines from the period, detailing the Queen’s Coronation, or choose cakes from the greengrocers, which has weighing scales inside and an old delivery bike propped up nearby.
In the White Hart pub, they will find tobacco tins, vintage beer mats and beer stools, where they can sit and sup a cold beer or tea and coffee.
Manager Christopher Taylor said the company decided to build the street on land between two homes it runs, caring for 80 residents in Winterbourne, Bristol.
He said: ‘It is really important for those with dementia who are mobile to have a destination. They can visit the pub or the post office – this makes it a walk with a purpose, which is so important.’
Studies have shown that talking about the past benefits the memory.
Research in 2009 by Exeter University found that chatting with peers about the war years caused those with dementia to experience an average of 12 per cent boost in their ability to remember.
For further information, visit the Daily Mail website
Architecture (USA): Recycling the Tower in the Park for retirees
As we approach 2020, when about one-fifth of the US population will be 60 or older, design will need to adapt to serve an aged demographic. According to the American Association of Retired Persons, nearly 90 per cent of older people say they want to age in place - that is, receive support services like meals and transportation help in their own homes instead of moving into retirement communities. The question facing architects and planners is how will cities meet the needs of these ageing boomers?
To that end, some New York architects are revisiting an ill-reputed housing type from the city’s modernist days: the tower in the park. Beloved by Le Corbusier for dismantling the messiness of pedestrian life and despised by Jane Jacobs for the same reason, many of these towers are now home to a disproportionately large number of the over-60 age group, thanks to a unique set of economic circumstances.
Though they weren’t built with older people in mind, towers in the park have evolved into something of a model for ageing in place: they have wide hallways that accommodate wheelchairs, passenger lifts, shops close by and for long-term residents, established social connections.
In New York State, buildings with a large population of older people - usually between 40 and 50 per cent of residents - can be designated as naturally occurring retirement communities (NORCS) and get funding for support services such as health-care management and social work programmes. Since the first community received US government funding in 1994, the number in New York City alone has reached 37, part of the state’s total of 52.
A Guide to NORCs in NYC will be published this autumn, revealing research collated from the last two years on these communities.
The rise of NORCs transforms the tower in the park from a design criticised as isolating to one that helps keep the social fabric of the city intact. The evolution of NORCs speaks to the flexibility of design, even in rigid schemes.
Georgeen Theodore, Principal of the Brooklyn architecture and planning firm Interboro Partners said: ‘As an architect, you design housing and things change after you leave the scene. Understanding how projects adapt and change over time should be an important part of the design process.’
For further information, visit the Atlantic Cites website
Disabled people: New disability action alliance announced to deliver disability strategy
The Government recently announced the formation of a new disability action alliance to help respond to the ideas put forward by disabled people and their organisations on living fulfilling lives.
Convened by Disability Rights UK and supported by the Office for Disability Issues, the alliance will consider thousands of suggestions put forward by disabled people earlier this year as part of the Fulfilling Potential discussion.
Minister for Disabled People, Esther McVey said:
‘The Paralympics truly captivated the hearts of the nation and have undoubtedly helped shift attitudes and perceptions towards disabled people. What we have now is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to capitalise on this and to work with disabled people to deliver lasting change.’
Last December the Government invited disabled people to help shape a new cross-government disability strategy. The Fulfilling Potential, the Discussions So Far, now published, summarises the issues raised, and shows how actions are already being taken across Government to address many of the issues.
The alliance will put disabled people and their organisations at the heart of creating inclusive local communities and changing attitudes to disability.
For further information, visit the Department for Work and Pensions website
Discrimination: A beginner’s guide to the ban on age discrimination in goods and services
From 1 October, the Government will bring into force the provisions within the Equality Act 2010 (EA 2010) which prohibit age discrimination in the field of goods and services. This means that commercial, charitable and public sector organisations will be required to eliminate unequal treatment on the grounds of age in respect of the provision of goods and services.
However, there are many exceptions contained in both the EA 2010 and the draft statutory instrument entitled the Equality Act 2010 (Age Exceptions) Order 2012 (Age Exceptions Order). These were formulated following a detailed consultation exercise carried out in 2011.
This change in the law is an interesting development because the ban on age discrimination does not have the same European context as other forms of discrimination. There is no directive currently prohibiting age discrimination in the field of goods and services. It is however a well-established and fundamental principle of community law that there should be equality of treatment. This is further enshrined within article 19 of the Treaty of the Functioning of the European Union in the context of age.
The principle of non-discrimination on the grounds of age in the context of service providers is contained in sections 13, 19, 26, 27 and 29 of the EA 2010. Only those over 18 are afforded protection. As explained by the guidance, this means that organisations can continue to operate no children hotels and holidays. However, service providers should proceed with some caution because treating under-18s more favourably might lead to litigation by older age groups.
Service-providers are defined as persons concerned with the provision of services, goods or facilities to the public or a section of the public, regardless of whether or not a payment is provided and regardless of whether or not the relevant persons are exercising a public function. It follows that a wide range of activities will fall within the scope of section 29 from the provision of medical treatment by the NHS to the sale of finance products by private banks.
In broad terms, the EA 2010 prohibits service-providers from:
- direct or indirect discrimination against a person because of age by withholding a service or in respect of the terms on which a service is provided, the termination of the service or subjecting that person to any other detriment
- harassing a person because of age who requires the service or uses the service
- victimising a person because of age by withholding the service or in respect of the terms on which a service is provided, the termination of the service or subjecting that person to any other detriment
The scope of indirect age discrimination in the context of age discrimination is not altogether obvious. However, new guidance offers a useful example, suggesting that indirect age discrimination would arise where an optician restricts eligibility to payment by instalments to those in work, thereby placing pensioners at a disadvantage.
The EA 2010 also renders it unlawful to provide a service either in a different way or in an inferior way because of a person’s age. An example is where a salesperson in a computer store serves an older customer less courteously by making jokes or perhaps offensive comments on the assumption that the customer is less knowledgeable about technology because of his or her age.
Importantly, where an employer organises for a third party to provide a service only to the employer’s employees, the third party will be a service provider and the employees will be classed as a section of the public so as to engage section 29 of the EA 2010. The employer would not be classed as a service provider, but any discriminatory activities might fall under part 5 of the EA 2010, which governs the employment relationship. One common scenario caught within this section would be the provision of IT services or occupational health services by an external organisation.
Additional examples and further explanation is given in the following link. The content of which also covers:
- European dimension
- healthcare
- financial products
- concessions
- holidays
- age verification
- sport
- charities
- schools
- positive action
The Government has stressed that: ‘the vast majority of businesses and organisations will be able to continue to operate as usual and certain areas will be exempt from the ban altogether’. This may be the case however, there are a number of industries where there is likely to be a significant amount of litigation and that litigation will be particularly complex and time consuming because of the lack of clarity concerning the way in which sections 13 and 19 should be construed in the context of goods and services.
For further information, visit the Law Gazette website
Discrimination (Northern Ireland): School refused to enrol little boy with diabetes
A school acted unlawfully by refusing to admit a four-year-old pupil who has diabetes, the Department of Education has stated.