After much talk, a lot of workshops and millions of pages of handouts, the final stage of the Disability Discrimination Act has become legally binding. All businesses are now required to have made reasonable adjustments to their physical premises to overcome barriers to access for disabled people. This ?news? should not come as any kind of a surprise ? after all, the Act has been in place for nearly ten years. However, a recent NOP survey for the Disability Rights Commission, rated one quarter of High Street businesses as ?poor? or ?very poor? in terms of their access for disabled people.
Cinemas and restaurants fared particularly badly, with 80% being in breach of the new legislation. Thanks, in part, to the legitimate demands of funders, many arts businesses are ahead of the game. Small organisations have been carrying out audits and implementing action plans, and many larger cultural organisations too, perhaps aware of their PR vulnerability, have been taking steps to comply with the letter of the law. The next step, though is the biggest of all. As Steve Mannix points out (p. 10), ensuring that a gallery is wheelchair accessible or an auditorium has an induction loop is important, but on its own, not enough. The genuinely inclusive, open accessibility of a building, its facilities and services is just as important. Publicly funded arts organisations have a moral as well as a legal responsibility to throw open access to the whole community. In the arts, this means a commitment, beyond the new legislation, to involving community organisations, disabled arts groups and artists. This is one area where the arts can and should lead and not just follow.
PS We hate to say ?I told you so?, but did anyone notice that the Big Lottery?s new fund (p1) has been launched before the end of the consultation period about its funding priorities had even ended?? what was that we were saying about ?pseudo-consultation??.? (see ?Tess?ll Fix it?, ArtsProfessional issue 81, September 6).