Making progress on Disability Discrimination Act
Over a third of Bradford Council's buildings have been made accessible to the disabled and further improvements to services are pledged.
The percentage of public buildings accessible to disabled people, in line with the Disability Discrimination Act, has risen from five per cent to 39 per cent in the past two years.
The Council allocated £1.95 million last financial year to improving accessibility to services, which includes making physical changes to buildings, training staff and buying equipment to help disabled people such as adaptive IT equipment, mobility aids and hoists.
A further £1.25 million has been pledged to continue the work this year.
Work has included:
* Consultations with disabled groups to ensure improvements are appropriate;
* 25 schemes to improve access to Council buildings, such as Bingley Arts Centre and Eccleshill Pool have been completed. Eleven schemes are on-going and seven others are planned;
* 37 Council staff have graduated from British Sign Language (BSL) level 1 and the Council plans to develop this training further;
* Over 800 people have benefited from the Disability Confident e-learning package, which includes remote learning at staff's workstations and group work through DVDs;
* A consultant has been commissioned to work with highways engineers to improve access across the district;
* New hoists and wheelchairs have been provided at our main recreation centres.
Coun Kris Hopkins, Deputy Leader of Bradford Council, said: "Throughout the process we have listened to the views of disabled users to ensure that their needs are met. We have worked closely with disabled people through the Easier Access Event and disabled access groups to ensure our priorities reflect theirs.
"The Council is committed to ensuring everyone has equal access to its services and we have made significant progress on meeting the objectives of the Disability Discrimination Act.
"We are working hard to make as many buildings as possible accessible to disabled people and are not complacent about the size of this challenge."
Officer/Contact:
Darryl Smith, senior policy officer
Telephone: 01274 434171
Media Relations Officer:
Sarah Bayliss
Telephone: 01274 433526
Fax: 01274 432005
Email: press.communications@bradford.gov.uk
