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The access ramp outside our showroom[/caption]
Blog Action Day is a global event where bloggers throughout the world blog about one important topic on the same day. The topic for 2014 is Inequality and so I have decided to write a post about the issue of access faced by disabled people.
In 2004 the Disability Discrimination Act was updated in the UK with requirements on goods, facilities and service providers to provide access to disabled people. This includes service users, customers and people employed by organisations. The additional requirements mean that many businesses are expected to make 'reasonable adjustments' where required to ensure disabled people can access and make full use of their premises. Unfortunately there are still many areas that are overlooked for disabled people and this means they miss out on many of the day to day activities and opportunities we take for granted.
Doors can be a major hurdle for disabled people and there are a few issues to consider related to doors. Using contrasting colours for doors and walls helps visually impaired people distinguish doorways. A common complaint related to standard width doors is that they are too narrow for wheelchair users. This applies to both external and internal doors. Doorsan offer custom made doors so you can specify the width of the door to ensure your premises are compliant with the legislation and more importantly, to allow full access to all people. Another issue related to doors is whether the door opens in or out. This is particularly important in tight spaces such as toilets and wash rooms where a simple adjustment to the fitting of a door to create an outward opening door can allow access to wheelchair users.
According to the Disabled Living Foundation there are more than 10 million disabled people in Britain. This represents a great number of people who should be able to access your business premises. The Disability Discrimination Act is now part of the Equality Act 2010 and if you would like to find out more about your requirements as a business then you can see the full Act on www.legislation.gov.uk. If you have any specific queries about new doors then please contact our customer services team on 0845 467 1910 or email us at help@uniquedoors.co.uk.
