Alan That is a pretty good summary of the issues. Access for the disabled is very much a part of health and safety generally. We have combined the two issues. We have a health and safety committee which reviews all work carried out on our site and also periodically walks the site and chews the cud. One of the committee members is significantly disabled which means we get a very good perspective on disability issues. We are facing another issue. We have another member who is much more seriously disabled. He can't walk very well and suffers spasmodic movements. His speech is extremely difficult to follow. He has announced recently that he intends to buy a steam loco to run on our track. This disturbed many members, particularly as he got his driving licence about six months ago. However it is not an issue. Safety comes first and it would not be safe to let him loose on our track. Compliance with the Act is going to take most businesses many years. The vast majority of buildings throughout the country do not comply. Billions will have to be spent over the next 10 to 20 years to make buildings compliant. By all means take the issue seriously but don't panic. Most modifications required, as we have found, are generally easy to implement. Peter ----- Original Message ----- From: "alanjstepney" <alan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> To: <modeleng@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Wednesday, October 06, 2004 9:23 PM Subject: [modeleng] Disability Discrimination Act On 1st October, the Disability Discrimination Act came into force. I understand that this applies to all clubs and organisations that allow entry by the public. Are clubs aware of this? Are any doing anything to comply with this Act? I suspect that many Model Engineering Societies may not be aware of it, and perhaps it would be a good idea to bring it to the attention of the committee at YOUR club. Disability does not just mean wheelchair, it means anybody with a disability, be it hearing, visual, physical, mental, {as well as wheelchair.} Clubs / company / whatever, need to have assessed and documented that they have assessed their property railway and buildings for disabled access facilities. You need to be able to demonstrate that the due diligence and reasonable assessment has been made. if the club / organisation has identified an area where it could comply, subject to spending #X, and has applied for a grant for that amount, (I gather such grants are available), that is reasonable evidencs that action is being taken. The act provides a let out that facilities do not have to be provided if it is unreasonable or impractical to do so. The guidance advice says quite clearly that not being able to afford to comply it cannot be seen to be the case unless all reasonable avenues of funding have been investigated. Quite reasonably the law say you cannot know that it cannot be afforded if you have not asked anyone else if they will help you pay for it. It is a legal requirement that all employers (including of unpaid volunteers) provide staff training regarding the treatment of people with disability and importantly to understand what counts as disability. Specific training is appropriate for all operations including kitchen/clubhouse shop ticket office etc. I must add that this is only MY view of this Act, and someone who knows the Law may have a different opinion. In any case, it is probably safest to find out exactly what is required, rather than fall foul of the law. alan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx www.alanstepney.info Model Engineering, Steam Engine, and Railway technical pages. MODEL ENGINEERING DISCUSSION LIST. To UNSUBSCRIBE from this list, send a blank email to, modeleng-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word "unsubscribe" in the subject line. MODEL ENGINEERING DISCUSSION LIST. To UNSUBSCRIBE from this list, send a blank email to, modeleng-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word "unsubscribe" in the subject line.