MONTHLY ROUND-UP
BPA ACTIVITIES
I suggest that asking the question in the first place means that the client hasn’t thought fully about what they need. Firstly, let’s remind ourselves what DDA stands for. It stands for the Disability Discrimination Act, which is a piece of legislation that no longer exists. It’s been replaced across the UK by the Equalities Act and this Act, like its predecessor, is not a specification, so how can anything comply with it? Put simply, the Act requires manufacturers
and service providers to make reasonable adjustments to accommodate the needs of people with disabilities. So, before you can design a service or piece of equipment you must understand who is likely to use it and what purpose it serves. Then you begin to understand the difficulties that people with disabilities might incur, and can think about how you can make reasonable adjustments to accommodate or overcome those difficulties. It’s pointless asking whether something
is DDA compliant. It is not an appropriate question given that the law’s requirement is for ‘reasonable adjustment’. To my mind, people drawing up specifications need to be
The Act requires manufacturers and
service providers to make reasonable adjustments to accommodate the needs of people with disabilities
more involved in deciding what equipment is needed, what it needs to do and what needs should be catered for, and then seek tenders accordingly. They should not rely on a general statement about it being DDA compliant; which is an outdated phrase in any case.
Meeting needs It is important to assess who will use the machines and what their needs are. Working with users will therefore be very important. A similar issue has recently been raised with the Department for Transport in the context of replacing railway station booking offices with ticket machines. The other important point is that disabilities are so wide ranging that it becomes almost impossible to come up with a design that will meet the needs of everyone. So, I beg of you: let’s stop asking whether something is DDA compliant and start focusing on the actual needs of the users. Then specifications can be written to ensure that the supplier clearly understands what needs to be delivered and can design and build parking equipment and systems according to those requirements.
www.britishparking.co.uk
APRIL 2012
17
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