Promoting Equality in Workshops for Deaf People
Background
The following guidelines have been written with the support of the National Deaf Children ’ s Society ( NDCS ) and aim to advise you on good practice in terms of your responsibilities as a training provider to provide reasonable adjustments for deaf delegates .
The advice aims to be clear , but also to be practical in how you as an organisation can best provide reasonable adjustments to ensure your training courses are open and accessible to all , including deaf delegates .
The Equality Act 2010
In 2010 , an Act was passed that brought together a great deal of existing equality legislation . The Equality Act 2010 protects against the discrimination of deaf and disabled people .
It is unlawful for employers , service providers and public bodies not to provide reasonable adjustments for disabled people . In practice , this means you should do things differently if the usual way would substantially disadvantage a deaf or disabled person . It may also mean providing additional services and equipment .
What are Reasonable Adjustments ? According to the Equality and Human Rights Commission :
The duty to make reasonable adjustments aims to make sure that a disabled person can use a service as close as it is reasonably possible to get to the standard usually offered to nondisabled people .
You are under a positive and proactive duty to take steps to remove or prevent obstacles for deaf / disabled people in your training sessions
The duty is ‘ anticipatory ’. This means you cannot wait until a disabled person wants to access your training , but must think in advance ( and on an ongoing basis ) about what disabled people with a range of impairments might reasonably need .
There are three requirements that apply in situations where a disabled person would otherwise be placed at a substantial disadvantage compared with people who are not disabled :
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The first requirement involves changing the way things are done ( equality law talks about where the disabled service user is put at a substantial disadvantage by a provision , criterion or practice of the service provider ). For example , do you insist on particular forms of communication , such as making bookings over the telephone ?
The second requirement involves making changes to overcome barriers created by the physical features of your premises , if these are open to the public or a section of the public . For example , physical features include steps , stairways , parking areas , building entrances and exits , internal and external doors , toilet and washing facilities , hearing loops and lighting .
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The third requirement involves providing extra aids and services such as providing extra equipment or providing a different , or additional , service to support the learning of the
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