D.D.A. guide: Buying goods and using services
Disability Rights
D.D.A. guide: Buying goods
and using services
A person with a disability has a right to obtain goods and use services
and facilities in the same way as people without a disability. This includes
goods, services and facilities from:
- Shops
and department stores - Cafes,
restaurants, pubs - Theatres
and other places of entertainment - Banks,
credit unions, building societies - Lawyers
and legal services - Sports
and social clubs - Swimming
pools - Public
transport - Travel
agents - Dentists,
doctors, and hospitals - Hairdressers
and beauty salons - Government-run
services.
What
is expected?
The
Disability Discrimination Act (D.D.A.) makes it against the law for providers
of goods, services and facilities to discriminate against a person because
of his or her disability.
This
means that providers of goods, services and facilities cannot:
- Refuse
to provide a person with a disability with goods, services and facilities.
For example, a person cannot be refused service in a restaurant because
he or she has a guide dog. A person cannot be refused hospital treatment
because he or she is HIV positive. - Provide
goods, services and facilities on less favourable terms and conditions.
For example, charging a person with a disability a higher kilometre
rate for a taxi because he or she uses a wheelchair or not providing
a TTY line for deaf people to contact emergency services. - Provide
the goods, services and facilities in an unfair manner. For example,
making insulting remarks while serving a person with a disability or
serving a person with a disability after everyone else has been served.
It
also means that a person with a disability has a right to enter the premises
of providers of goods, services and facilities if people without a disability
can do so. (See the section on The
Ins and Outs of Access).
Like
other areas of the D.D.A. a defence of "unjustifiable hardship"
may be available.