The Journey to the Future

Early changes in approaches to disability

Wheelchair access took hold first as the major priority in guidance and statutory requirements in the UK.  Of course inclusive design is far more than this today.

Changes over the last half a century alone (which in terms of the life of a building is not long) have seen the end of such named publications as ‘Designing for the Handicapped’ and the ‘Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act’.  Not before time too you might say!

Models of disability

There are two major but distinct models:

• The medical model:  This approach views disability as a curable problem that lies within a person. For example, taking this approach, a hearing impairment might be treated by administering medical treatment, perhaps a cochlea implant.
• The social model:  This approach would focus treatment outside of the person and change their environment instead of ‘curing’ the person. For example, taking this approach, a response to deafness would be teaching sign language in schools or perhaps providing lip speakers, on-screen sign language interpretation, subtitled films or live screen travel information on transport and at terminals/stops.

The social model is not perfect – it fails because for example it does not address the individual experience of disability nor does it recognise how personal experiences can influence change.  It is by far the most widely used and recognised.

The model for the definition of ‘disabled person’ used in the current Equality Act 2010 is strictly medical. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities uses some of the same terms as the Equality Act but in a social model ethos.

Changes from the 1960’s to today…

1960’s to the 70’s

In 1974, the UK appointed its first Minister for Disabled People, Alfred Morris and campaigns began to establish some enforcement mechanism for designing for ’special needs’.

In 1975, concurrent with the developments across the UK, the UN Declaration on the Rights of Disabled Persons was adopted by the UN General Assembly.

This was important because it aimed at protecting the rights of disabled people and ‘promoting their integration in normal life’. Interestingly, this defined disabled people as ‘any person unable to ensure by himself or herself, wholly or partly, the necessities of a normal individual and/or social life as a result of deficiency, either congenital or not, in his physical or mental capabilities’. It proclaimed the right for them to receive ’special treatment’ for their ’special needs’, and the right ‘to environment and living conditions as close as possible to those of the normal life of people of their age, when admission to specialised establishment is indispensable’.

In 1976, the UN General Assembly announced that 1981 would be the International Year of Disabled Persons. It headlined with ‘equality of opportunity’ and called for action on a regional, national, and international level.

1980’s

For the first time attitudes towards disabled people were acknowledged as being major barriers. 

Planners were given duties under the Disabled Persons Act to be mindful of the relevant sections in the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act when assessing planning applications.

The British Council of Disabled People was founded in 1981. Controlled by disabled people, it set out to ‘promote full equality and participation within society’ and campaigned relentlessly to promote the rights of disabled people (through social model advocacy).

In 1985, Part T of the Building Regulations (Access to and facilities for disabled people) was brought in, two years before the first Part M (Access to and use of buildings).

At the end of the 1980s, the Lifetime Homes group was formed and the 16 explicit Lifetime Homes Standards were issued. Separately, wheelchair accessibility was led by the Wheelchair Housing Design Guide.

1990’s

Part M was up dated to its current form (with an increase in the Approved Document M from around 30 to 80 pages).

The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 brought in the requirement not to discriminate directly or indirectly against a disabled person and introduced the concept of ‘reasonable adjustments’.

2000’s

The Special Educational Needs and Disability Act came in 2001, together with Disability Equality Duty part of the DDA (2005), which applies to public sector organisations.

BS 8300:2001 was issued. With updates it is now more than double this size (and includes an index).

In March 2007, the UK signed the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities Convention, ratifying it in June 2009. The full obligations of the Convention are now included in the UK’s national legal framework, such as in the Equality Act 2010.

The Convention is a significant move towards inclusive provision in practice and policy on an internationally linked scale. As well as facilitating the development of the new draft international standard ISO/DIS 21542 on accessibility to buildings it moves the EA / DDA definition of disabled person into the social model approach by stating: ‘Persons with disabilities include those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments which in interaction with various barriers may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others.’

In 2007, the Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) was set up. This brought together the Equal Opportunities Commission, the Commission for Racial Equality and the Disability Rights Commission.

The EHRC has new responsibilities in terms of upholding rights protected under the Equality Act 2010.

The provisions of the Equality Act came into force as an Act of Parliament on  October 1st 2010. It is aimed at harmonising and standardising equality law. It brings nine legal statutory provisions headed ‘protected characteristics’ into one singular Act, the protected characteristics being age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief (including lack of belief), sex and sexual orientation. Public authorities have a new duty to make tackling discrimination on any of these grounds a priority.

More about today’s standards…

Although there are fundamental statutory controls in place such as Building Regulations, there are also numerous publications on guidance available.  Whilst the following includes the key current standards it is not an exhaustive list of best practice, which is a very much an evolving area.

 Readers are likely to be already familiar with the Building Regulations Part M (Access to and use of buildings) and the Approved Document M (AD M) issued in 2004 which provides current regulation and gives technical guidance.

Through the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2006, Design and Access Statements are an obligatory condition of planning.

The use of a separate and more detailed Access Statement as a ‘tool’ and ‘record’ of ‘inclusive access related decisions’ throughout the development process, including building control, is also recommended in AD M and many guidance documents.

The Communities and Local Government publication Planning and access for disabled people: a good practice guide encourages the use of planning conditions or those made under s106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 to bring about inclusion in the wider urban environment. It also suggests authorities should use Supplementary Planning Guidance, for example, to administer Lifetime Homes Standards (LHS, see below) and Wheelchair Housing Standards as criteria to meet.

The LHS are already required for all housing under the London Plan, as are Wheelchair Accessible homes, the latter to a proportion of one tenth of all new build residential.

The government publication Lifetime Homes, Lifetime Neighbourhoods: A National Strategy for Housing in an Ageing Society (2008) discusses the need to build more flexible and inclusive housing and states the government’s objective of having all new publicly funded housing built to Lifetime Homes Standard by 2011 and to make LHS ‘the norm’ for all newly built housing by 2013.

Lifetime Homes

The Lifetime Homes Standards have been recently reviewed and reissued (5 July 2010). All schemes registered either under the Code for Sustainable Homes or for planning approval should now comply with the revised criteria. Schemes registered before this date, but not yet assessed by a code assessor or other compliance checking process, can comply with either version of the Standards.

Key changes are as follows:

• Car parking – communal and private facilities are dealt with separately.
• Approach – can be accessible to either front main entrance or a secondary door where it can be demonstrated that topography or regulation prevents such a route to the main entrance. 
• Communal door widths 875mm minimum.
• Provision for handrails in walls provided for up to 1800mm (previously 1500mm) above floor level.
• Single point hoist installations only need to be provided for in ceilings (previously provision for full tracking was required).
• Sill heights in living room are given a 50mm tolerance over the 800mm required height.

A draft DD266 (Lifetime Homes) has been produced. This looks increasingly likely to be developed into a full British Standard next year. The business case is reportedly approved and it is now likely to become BS9266.  Watch this space!

BS 8300 2009+A1

Published on July 28th 2010, the British Standard Institute has made slight modifications to the best practice guidance BS 8300:2009 Design of buildings and their approaches to meet the needs of disabled people.

Changes from the BS 8300:2009 include the following:

• Designated off-street parking – general provision.  The enlarged standard space dimensions have increased to 3.6m wide from 3m. They are now 3.6m wide by 6m long.

• Handrail design (and other dimensions including fixings have changed slightly) – the external perimeter of between 100mm and 160mm is the optimum size to provide a power grip around a handrail.

• Panic exit devices – a change to the release force required for panic devices operated by a horizontal bar for use on escape routes should conform to BS EN 1125:2008. 4.2.1.1. This has decreased from a maximum of 220 N to 80 N.

Tomorrow’s standards…

Are you familiar with the talk on what’s happening with Building Regulations and other possible changes?  Here are some news snippets!

Draft BS ISO 21542 Building Construction – Accessibility and usability of built environment consultation

This is something like an international equivalent of the BS 8300, although in some areas it is not as generous as BS 8300:2009.

For example regarding car parking it states:

A minimum of 1 accessible designated parking space should be provided in every parking area:

• up to 50 parking spaces: 2 designated accessible parking spaces;
• up to 100 parking spaces: 4 designated accessible parking spaces;
• up to 200 parking spaces: 6 designated accessible parking spaces; and
• over 200 parking spaces: 6 designated accessible parking spaces + 1 for each additional 100.

Whereas BS 8300 states:

‘Workplaces (with Shopping, Recreation and Leisure figures in brackets)
One space for each employee who is a disabled motorist, plus 5% (6%) of the total capacity for visiting disabled motorists, with a further 5% (4%) of the total capacity that should be enlarged standard spaces.’

Also, bay dimensions in the draft are 5.4m long including transfer zone of 1.2m. Compare this to ADM and BS 8300 – both state 6m total minimum.

Comments received from a consultation have now been reviewed.  A report on voting and action is due (November/December 2010).

The relationship between BS8300 2009 and ISO 21542 will also then be clarified, possibly within a new foreword to BS 8300 2009.

London Housing Design Guide – Interim edition

The Interim edition of the London Housing Design Guide has now been published by the London Development Agency (LDA)

London – Mayor’s Draft Replacement London Plan

The new London Plan will update the Supplementary Planning Guidance Document (SPG) Accessible London and contain more detail on access standards and facilities such as Shopmobility schemes and Changing Places WCs.

 The key elements to inclusive design in the draft are Shopmobility Schemes, Residential Space Standards, Accessible Hotel Bedrooms, Shared Spaces and Blue Badge Parking.

From July 2010 the draft London Plan was subject to an examination in public (EiP) carried out by independent inspectors appointed by the government. Once the examination in public is complete (minor amendments and consultations are continuing until around December 2010), the Mayor expects to formally publish the replacement London Plan (in late 2011).

A draft Replacement London Plan Housing SPG has been issued, aimed to inform the EiP process.

The Equality Act 2010 – 2011 – 2012 – 2013

The Equality Act changes the definition of Disability slightly: it being no longer necessary to demonstrate that the impairment affects a particular capacity such as mobility, manual dexterity or continence.

It identifies three main types of disability discrimination – direct, indirect and discrimination arising from a disability.

 There are also changes under the title of reasonable adjustments:

• Reasonable adjustments are required of service providers or those exercising public function(s), controllers of let premises or common parts of let premises, employers, education providers and associations.
• Reasonable adjustments relate to: a provision, criteria or practice; a physical feature or an auxiliary aid.  Each being triggered where the result would otherwise lead to ‘substantial disadvantage’ for a disabled person: ‘Substantial’ is defined as anything that is more than minor or trivial.
• Also, it explains that in addressing a ‘substantial disadvantage’ this can mean removing, altering or providing a reasonable means of avoiding a physical feature.

Much of the wording is used in the outgoing DDA, although in concept some of it is different.

Harassment was previously covered in the DDA in the work environment – this is now extended to receivers of goods and services.

Victimisation, where someone is treated badly for making a complaint under the Act, is also covered in the new Equality Act, where a claimant no longer needs to demonstrate less favourable treatment by comparison (as was the case with the DDA), but need only now show that they have been treated badly.

The new age discrimination legislation is to help many older disabled people and for disabled people who live in homes with common areas, landlords and residential property managers are now under a new duty to make alterations. This may include for example providing level access, handrails on stairs or improved lighting to hallways leading to front doors, where reasonable.  Landlords do not generally have to cover costs involved, however.

Previously, under the DDA, service providers only had to make adjustments when it was ‘impossible or unreasonably difficult’ for a disabled person to use their service, and employers had to make adjustments as soon as a provision, criterion or practice, or a physical feature of premises placed a disabled person at a ’substantial disadvantage’ when compared to non-disabled people.  The Equality Act has  introduced a new single threshold for the point at which the duty to make adjustments is triggered. This reflects the latter threshold and so the criteria of ‘impossible or unreasonably difficult’ no longer remains in the Act.

The envisaged timetable for the remaining parts of the Equality Act are as follows:

April 2011: The integrated public sector Equality Duty, the Socio-economic Duty and dual discrimination protection.

September 2011: Auxiliary aids and services provision in schools

2012: The ban on age discrimination in provision of goods, facilities, services and public functions.

2013: Private and voluntary sector gender pay transparency regulations (if required) and political parties publishing diversity data.

Support in both understanding and implementing the Act in terms of statutory and non-statutory guidance and codes of practice is being produced from drafts and consultations made.

Output from the non-statutory guidance consultation is also available as guidance on the EHRC website.

The statutory guidance or Codes of Practice is intended to be used by professionals such as lawyers, courts and tribunals, in contrast to the non-statutory guidance which is aimed at a wider audience.  The statutory guidance has been laid before Parliament (October 2010) and if no objections are received an Order will be made to bring them into force.

A final note on a hot topic….Shared Surfaces

There is an increased desire to use Shared Surfaces and Spaces in schemes, and as there is no formal standard nor guidance, both the existing and the new public duties for local authorities are likely to be tested much further.

The Department for Transport and Transport for London are both involved with researching various aspects of Shared Spaces and Shared Surfaces that impact on disabled people.

Guide Dogs UK have been actively campaigning on the issue, in particular to ensure schemes include a safe space.

Tom Pey, Guide Dogs’ director of external affairs recently said:

‘… the advice to those looking to develop shared space schemes must be to clearly delineate footways for vulnerable pedestrians. Currently there is no proven effective delineator other than a kerb with regular dropped kerb crossing points and Guide Dogs’ most recently commissioned research shows that such kerbs need to be at least 60mm to be effective’.