Council disregards disabled people

I write to support and enlarge on the “lack of loos” problem as set out by Maeve Hamilton Hercod in the Chronicle of June 17th.

It may surprise some people but there are no actual disabled public toilets provided by the council.

They have what they call disabled toilets but a true disabled toilet is much larger because they need to have room for a person in a wheelchair, a stand aid and their carer and they need to have a electric hoist in the ceiling.

The carer needs to have working access to be able to properly assist the disabled person. The client will usually bring their own harness with them which the carer will then fix around their body.

Once the harness is fixed the hoist needs to be brought into position and the harness and hoist joined together.

The client can then be lifted from the wheelchair, moved over the toilet and then lowered. There is not one single public toilet meeting the above specification. Therefore the council is blatantly breaking the Act of 2010.

If anyone feels that I am overstating the situation please go and look at the disabled toilet in the Pump Room.

Are people aware that most of the so-called on-street disabled parking units are the same footprint as all the other parking units?

There is no extra space because of disability. This means that the disabled person, their equipment and their carer can be exiting their car on to a moving lane of traffic. I have experienced this terrifying situation on many occasions.

The council knows that it is breaking the 2010 Act. A freedom of information request asking for copies of my letters and the council’s replies on this subject will amplify this matter.

It seems to me that the money being foolishly spent on low traffic zones should be spent on reducing the obvious discrimination of disabled people. There is no possibility of LTN’S working because we do not have any major roads in Bath that are not already being worked close to the limit.

It will merely move the problem from place to place and then we shall see that once again money has been wasted. The operation of CAZ has already started to show this feature.

The question of disabled toilet facilities and on-street disabled parking clearly show that disabled people are all suffering discrimination. The Council are well aware of the 2010 Equality Act which makes it clear that they must not engage in acts of discrimination.

It is also the fact that there have been letters to the Chronicle in recent times also alleging council discrimination against disabled people. It would seem therefore that the council must take the view that they can disregard disabled people and their needs.

They believe that disable people are in a weak position and therefore they will not get taken to court.

A considerable period of time since the 2010 Act became law has elapsed, consequently we can look at case law and see how judges have been acting with regard to this legislation. I found what I felt was a useful narrative.

This concerned a person who felt strongly that they had suffered real discrimination and they employed a lawyer. The person who had practised this discrimination also employed a lawyer. This person through their lawyer said that there was another law which meant that what they had done did not amount to breaking the law.

The judge ruled that discrimination as set out in the 2010 Act had occurred and that the 2010 Act took precedence over the Act that the abuser had referenced. It is interesting to note that there has not been to date a referral to a higher court to challenge that judge’s decision.

Someone at some point will come with finance and the will take the council to court and we shall then see what the independent court thinks about their behaviour

David Layton Combe Hay