The Disability Discrimination Act (1995)

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Access Audit
The best way to find out how accessible your establishment is and where any improvements can be made is to carry out an Access Audit.

External Access Auditors can be commissioned to do this, but it’s also possible for many serviced accommodation operators to do it themselves. As well as saving an auditor’s fee, doing it yourself will help to increase your familiarity with what is required to improve the accessibility of your business and thus potentially widen its appeal to include those who have a disability and their companions.

It’s important to bear in mind that many improvements carry little or no cost and may be quite simple and straightforward eg: alterations to staff training programmes or the print size used on menus.

Whatever level of accessibility you hope to aspire to, it must be supported by a well-formulated policy – regularly communicated to all employees – to provide for those with any form of disability.

To assist B&B, Guest House and Small Hotel operators to audit their own businesses, click here for the Accessibility Checklist Tool.

Following this checklist format will help you to identify any shortcomings or aspects of your business that could readily be improved to make it more accessible. Matching the checklist sections with those of the sample audits will give an insight into what is assessed and the scale and detail of the recommendations given. By completing and retaining the checklist, it also provides a record of your willingness to make reasonable changes where practical and affordable.

If you wish to follow up your Audit findings with an enquiry about the purchase of aids and equipment, click here for list of stockists or email: hamish.reid@visitscotland.com

A number of publications are also available to help you deciding on any improvements that you may wish to make. Click here for details of the publications.

Access Statements
One way of doing this is to draw up an Access Statement that makes clear your commitment to providing a non-discriminatory service and explains how this will be done.

Case Studies and Checklists
To assist B&B, Guest House and Small Hotel operators to audit their own businesses, click here for the Accessibility Checklist and here for the Case Studies.

NB: Please remember that carrying out your own Audit or even commissioning a professional body to do it cannot provide immunity against prosecution under the DDA. What it will do is help to demonstrate that any discrimination was unintentional and had not been identified in the reasonable efforts made to ensure legal compliance.

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