Does anyone have any experience of writing an up to date disability access policy for their council?

Question

Obviously this would need to be done in liaison with a Disabled People's Organisation (DPO) and I feel strongly that it should also be done with close regard to the UNCRPD.

Would be great to know if this has been done or is currently being done.

Thanks.

Answer 1

One bit of advice would be to keep at simple as possible because as with risk assessments the hardest part is deciding when to stop and avoiding going to the Nth degree.

You must decide what is to reasonably expected of the PC in meeting its obligations under the legislation and consider what is most appropriate to your operation. Main areas would be making information available to all ( website and large print documents) and access to meetings easily open to the disabled. This might be as simple as ensuring that the venue you hire from 3rd party meets their obligations on disabled access.

Avoid cutting and pasting template policies as this is one item that is unique to your council and blindly copying could lead your policy to be unworkable and unobtainable.