Access Denied

Today marks the deadline for compliance with part three of the 1995 Disability Discrimination Act. It introduces stricter rules on physical accessibility that mean that from 1 October, service providers should have made “reasonable adjustments” to all premises to which the public has access (HT 17 September, page 49). How this will be applied in practice has yet to be tested in the courts, but the Disability Rights Commission has already made clear its intention to find and push for prosecution of service providers found to be lacking. DRC research published this week found that 80% of British high streets were unprepared for the changes and almost a quarter of shops visited were rated “poor” or “very poor”. And an informal survey by the National Housing Federation said just 48% of housing associations expect to comply by October 2005.

The act has been almost 10 years coming and has been given much publicity by the Department for Work and Pensions and the DRC in recent months, so few social housing providers can claim to be ignorant of its impact. You might expect them to be at the forefront of good practice in accessibility. But are they?

As the deadline loomed, HT sent one social housing tenant and wheelchair user to visit five London housing providers to find out.

THE RESEARCHER

John Walsh, 55, has been a tenant of Habinteg Housing Association for 10 years. He works as a civil servant in the technical directorate of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and lives in a one-bed flat with warden support in Hackney, east London. He has limited movement of his arms and legs, so he gets about by motorised wheelchair and an adapted transit van with an electronic ramp at the back for him to get in and out. He is very happy with Habinteg’s accommodation and offices – but we asked him to take a look at other nearby associations and councils he might have to deal with if he moved.

ISLINGTON COUNCIL

First up is Islington council’s housing department in Highbury, north London – and Walsh hits the first obstacle straight away. Although the council doesn’t provide parking for visitors, there are two disabled parking bays, but they’re inside a barrier. A quick trip up to reception is something that Walsh couldn’t do unless he had already parked his car, so Housing Today intervenes. The receptionist seems thrown by the idea that someone with a disability might be visiting. “It’s a closed office,” he says. “Nobody is seen without an appointment.” And if he had an appointment, where would he park? “We could probably arrange something,” he says.

Even with an appointment, Walsh wouldn’t get into the disabled space today because one car with a disabled badge is parked at an angle, forcing the car of a non-disabled owner to block the other disabled space. Fortunately, Walsh finds a space on the road outside – a traffic warden confirms that a blue badge lets you park for free in Islington. “That’s good,” Walsh comments. “Some London councils don’t do this or have their own badges. I’m always getting tickets from wardens who don’t notice my badge.”

Getting into the office proves no problem – there’s a long ramp, which Walsh speeds up in no time. Despite the “closed office” policy, the reception is busy and there is a free phone so people can ring the council’s housing advisers.

But this is no use to Walsh, who can’t pick it up. The receptionist confirms they have no speakerphone and proffers a special handset rest that could balance on someone’s shoulder – but it’s behind the desk, which is high up, and certainly not very private, unlike the phone for general use.

“Their accessibility is okay but the phone is a problem,” Walsh says.

It’s a wasted journey. The entrance is up a stairway. There is an intercom – at the top of the stairs

NEWLON HOUSING TRUST

Newlon Housing Trust’s headquarters is on busy Hoxton Street in east London. Although there are parking spaces in front of the entrance, the kerb doesn’t slope down at this point, so Walsh has to venture out onto the road alongside traffic so he can get up a ramp at a zebra crossing. “This happens a lot because people park next to ramps all the time,” he says.

The next issue is Newlon’s door – it’s not automatic, so Walsh has to drive his chair towards it and use his weight to push it open. “This is a common problem,” he says. “Pushing a door in with your wheelchair is not so difficult for me, although it might be for some people with less strength. Trying to pull it open against my chair would be very hard.”

Walsh then notices a sign on the inside of the door directing visitors to press a button if they can’t open the door – but it’s too high for him to reach. “I would have to use my nose to press that and they can be stiff or recessed in so I can’t push them very hard.”

Once inside, the receptionists are friendly – but the desk comes up to Walsh’s neck, so they have to stand up to talk to him. But he says he is used to high desks. “This is fairly typical. I’m okay if I need to sign something because I write with my mouth. But for other wheelchair users who write with their hands, I imagine it could be a problem.”

MOSAIC HOMES

Not far away in Hoxton is the main building of Mosaic Homes, formerly New Islington & Hackney Housing Association. It is also not far from Walsh’s current home. He manages to park outside and makes his way down the street, circumnavigating high kerbs by travelling along the busy road. But it’s a wasted journey. The entrance is up a steep stairway. There is an intercom – at the top of the stairs. Walsh smiles grimly: it’s the sort of problem he encounters every day.

The receptionist admits she doesn’t know what to suggest when told a person in a wheelchair is trying to get in. Someone else tells Walsh that if he’s interested in getting on Mosaic’s register, he’d need to go to another office. But under the act, any office open to the public should be accessible.

“If I wanted to enquire about anything here, I wouldn’t be able to get access.”

Walsh leaves none the wiser about the facilities inside. “The steps were wide enough to put a chair lift in. They could have done that, but they haven’t,” he points out.

We’ve only got the pack on paper. I could photocopy
it bigger for her

Derbyshire Dales Council

HACKNEY COUNCIL

After Mosaic, Hackney council’s housing advice and homelessness centre is a relief. It’s on a quiet road with metered parking, and the entrance is level with the pavement. It even has an automatic door. Inside, the reception desk is lower down, so the receptionists can talk to Walsh face-to-face. There are a number of meeting rooms off the main waiting room, and it has a lift to all floors of the building. It’s also the only place Walsh visited on that day to have a hearing loop facility for hearing aid users.

Walsh is impressed. “This is the best place I’ve been to today,” he says. “Automatic doors are the easiest type of door, and next best would be two-way push doors.” But they’re not common. Automatic doors are usually a feature of larger hotels or office blocks, but tend to be less common in smaller offices. “Doors I can’t open myself are frustrating, because it’s so much hassle when I have to wait for someone to let me.”

KINGSMEAD HOMES

The final visit is to Kingsmead Homes, a small subsidiary of Shaftesbury Housing Association that looks after 907 flats on an estate in Clapton, east London.

Even though it’s a small association, the first signs are good: near the entrance the ground of the car park slopes to make a ramp up to the main door. The door itself has an intercom next to it, which is too high for Walsh to reach. But the receptionist inside is quick off the mark and buzzes him in as soon as she sees him.

Once inside, though, the receptionist’s desk towers above Walsh. And it is made worse by a vertical barrier that has been added as a security measure on top. “I am struck by the height of the barrier,” Walsh says. The receptionist is apologetic and explains: “It was put in for safety to stop people reaching over the desk. We have had a few people trying to assault staff before.”

Walsh nods. “They have to have security, so I understand the reason for the barrier.

But ideally, it would be good to have a release mechanism or some kind of openable window. A lot of people don’t think about access when designing these things.”