I agree that there are far too many examples of organisations scaremongering
and trying to terrorise service providers into having audits carried out on
the premise that this alone will offer legal 'protection' from the hoards of
vigilante disabled people.  As access consultants we are constantly speaking
with clients and potential clients who have limited understanding of what
they need to do in relation to Part III and unfortunately we also find that
there are a lot of organisations preying on this.  We are concerned by the
quality of some of the 'audits' that we see as well as the extremely
worrying issue of 'DDA compliance certificates'!!!  Whilst we accept that
there are many fully reputable property professionals out there successfully
carrying out audits, I am often concerned at the number of
architects/building surveying firms who offer access audits as another
'bolt-on' service with little understanding of the Act itself.  This seems
to result in an over-emphasis on building related issues and the significant
omission of the important service/management related aspects.

In all our work relating to access consultancy we are committed to
advocating the numerous benefits of adopting inclusive policies as well as
creating inclusive environments rather than using scare tactics.  I hope
that we are successful in this aim.

Clare Armstrong




----- Original Message -----
From: "Curry, Paul" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, September 29, 2004 11:08 AM
Subject: Re: DDA Logbook


> Haven't seen the logbook but am getting increasingly worried about the
near
> scare tactics of some of the commercial organisations looking for work.
> Phrases such as ' As such DDA could be seen as a threat to your business'
> are not only incorrect (in intention if not in a strict grammatical sense
as
> the word could is included) but put service providers on the defensive as
a
> starting point which can't be good.
>
> What are list members views on this and are there good examples of how
> organisations are looking for work out there?
>
> Paul
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Cathy Findlay [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: 28 September 2004 17:48
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: [ACCESSIBUILT] DDA Logbook
>
>
> Has anyone come across this logbook, or have any feedback on it?
>
> Best wishes
> Cathy
>
> OPENSpace www.openspace.eca.ac.uk
>
>
>
>
>
> ----------End of Message----------
>
> Run by SURFACE for more information on research, consultancy and the
> distance taught MSc. in Accessibility and Inclusive Design programme
visit:
>
> http://www.inclusive-design.it
>
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> Run by SURFACE for more information on research, consultancy and the
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>
> http://www.inclusive-design.it
>
> Archives for the Accessibuilt discussion list are located at
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----------End of Message----------

Run by SURFACE for more information on research, consultancy and the distance taught MSc. in Accessibility and Inclusive Design programme visit:

http://www.inclusive-design.it

Archives for the Accessibuilt discussion list are located at http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/accessibuilt.html