My View On The DDA
Turn a problem into a solution
Paul Barran’s view of the DDA is that it opens markets and is not just another piece of red tape. “What the DDA Part 3 has forced a lot of service providers to do is actually think about the way they serve their customers. Some of the solutions we provide our clients can be simple common sense and general good practice customer service”. Research estimates that there are up to ten million people in the UK who are classed as disabled according to the DDA with an estimated spending power of between £40 and £120 billion.
As former DDA Project Manager at the Post Office and responsible for delivering access solutions to 18,000 Post Office Counters, Paul knows how easy it is to be panicked into an inappropriate or expensive solution. The logistics of making 18,000 post offices fully accessible, even with a nine year lead time, with the thousands of forms, products and so on, was huge. Paul started off by supplying pen grips, signature templates and magnifiers, and created the “customer care pack”, a simple but effective solution for removing physical barriers for a range of disabilities, particularly those with such a high incidence in the population like arthritis and partial sight.
Another example of keeping it simple was when delivering a complete access solution to a high street chain of dental practices with over 120 outlets. Paul was asked about the requirement to convert toilets at each surgery to be fully compliant with Part M of the building regulations (the regulations that control accessibility of buildings), at a cost of many millions. “Don’t offer toilet facilities to the general public and the toilets are not covered by the DDA, so they do not need to be converted”. This suited the dental chain who could use the money to invest in other customer service initiatives and did not detract from the overall level of service for customers.
However Paul was quick to stress “this solution was right for them. It would not be right for a GP surgery, given the nature of the service it provides and the typical profile of “customers”, or patients. It would also not be good customer service for a pub or restaurant not to offer toilet facilities”.
So what is the right solution?
“The simple answer is that there is no right solution” Paul comments wryly, “without case law and the use of the word “reasonable” in the legislations means we actually don’t know how the law will work in the future and solutions vary from organisation to organisation.”
Able Consulting first step when working with any organisation is to find out what their client, the service provider, actually wants to achieve with their DDA solution. Although many service providers both in the private and public sector want to do the minimum to comply, after initial meetings with Able Consulting they realise what a market opportunity the DDA presents.