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Article

5 Jan 2017

Author:
Diane Taylor, Guardian (UK)

UK: Disability rights advocates call for fines for businesses that fail to provide disability access

"Transport providers come under pressure to improve disabled access", 3 Jan 2017

Pressure is mounting on transport providers and other companies to improve access for people with disabilities after the Paralympian Anne Wafula Strike revealed...that she had been forced to wet herself on a train because the accessible toilet was out of order.  Wafula Strike, a British wheelchair racer and a board member of UK Athletics, has called for companies to be fined if they don’t provide the facilities for disabled people that legislation requires.  Fellow Paralympic athletes...backed her call for change...[and] supported Wafula Strike’s call for fines to be imposed on organisations failing to provide suitable accessible facilities...Sarah Evans, and employment lawyer at Slater and Gordon, said: “It would be interesting to see if the fines that Anne has proposed would encourage compliance among organisations...“The onus in legislation is on the disabled person getting their rights enforced rather than the employer.  In the workplace it is more difficult for employees to bring disability discrimination cases now than it used to be because of the fees regime introduced into the employment tribunal.”...“The obligations on employers are quite low – all they have to do is make reasonable adjustments for people with disabilities.”...