Memorandum from Janice Tillett (DDB 90)
As a Voluntary Director of national charity
Deafblind UK and as a Deafblind person I would like to make the
following comments re the draft Disability Discrimination Act.
Firstly under the meaning of disability I consider
that there should be an acknowledgement of dual sensory impairment—at
present I believe it states sensory impairment thus implying that
only one sense can be impaired—many people have a dual sensory
impairment or who are deafblind.
With reference to the part in the act where
it says that registered blind and partially sighted people are
conclusively disabled—no mention of dual sensory impaired
or deafblind people as being classed conclusively as a disabled
person.
Throughout the Act the word "reasonable"
is used a lot in context of reasonable adjustments etc. I consider
that the word reasonable is often used very loosely and is not
positive enough. There are many problems because many people's
idea of reasonable are very different.
I did like how extra provision was quantified
in price ie it costs £1.50 to produce a tape for a blind
person. As you know making provision for people with sensory impairment
does not cost businesses a fortune. Is there anything in the act
re staff training and the "small" things that staff
can do to enable a dual sensory impaired person to use their services
ie provision of loops or simply just being able to speak clearly.
If you have any further queries or want to discuss
the Act in context of people with a dual sensory impairment then
please do not hesitate to contact me or national charity Deafblind
UK as it is felt that the needs of people with a dual sensory
impairment are often overlooked and we would like the Government
to alleviate these problems by amending the law.
March 2004
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