Eliminating access barriers
This section introduces access barriers experienced by disabled people.
Appropriate accommodations
A person’s environment plays a crucial role in determining which barriers they will experience. Appropriate accommodations (or changes) in the environment can eliminate, or at least lessen the impact of, these barriers.
Types of accommodations may include:
- altering the physical access to a building
- providing technical and adaptive aids and human support
- allowing flexibility of hours and timelines
- using alternative communication formats
- using alternative transportation options.
In the first instance, all reasonable action must be taken to accommodate a disabled person and their support needs in a workplace.
Reasonable accommodation means that if a person requires special services or facilities, as a result of their impairment, and it is not reasonable to provide these accommodations, then the provider or employer need not provide them. For example, it may not be reasonable to expect a small business to relocate offices, or incur significant expense in creating improved access in an existing building.
The Human Rights Act 1993 provides a direction on what are reasonable accommodations that need to be made to the environment to make it accessible to a disabled person. The Act states that discrimination on the grounds of disability is prohibited. Failure to provide access to someone with an impairment could imply discrimination on the grounds of disability.
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Flexible communication mechanisms
Communication is vital to a healthy functioning society. Access to information can be limited by language as much as by the physical location of documents. For communication to be inclusive and effective, you need to consider the differing needs and abilities of disabled people.
To communicate information to persons with sensory or cognitive impairments you may need to use alternative formats. For example, you can present information in Braille, electronic formats, large print or plain language text. Information can also be conveyed by teletypewriter and telephone relay service for Deaf and speech impaired people, New Zealand Sign Language interpreters, and DeafBlind interpreters
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Legal requirements to provide equal access
For individuals with impairments, equity sometimes means receiving the same treatment as others. At other times equity means putting additional measures in place. A ‘one size fits all’ approach can result in a barrier to participation.
Section 19(1) of the Bill of Rights Act 1990 affirms the right to be free from discrimination on prohibited grounds (set out in section 21 of the Human Rights Act 1993), including disability. Section 19 of the Bill of Rights Act applies to all activities of the public sector (for example, policy and service development) and requires these activities to be consistent with that right.
The test for section 19 of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act (excluding employment, racial and sexual harassment and victimisation) essentially asks two questions:
- Is there discrimination? Is there a distinction on a prohibited ground and does that distinction result in disadvantage?
- If so, is the discrimination justified?
The following principles may help apply this legislation in your policy area:
- Legislation inevitably needs to make distinctions and not all distinctions are discriminatory.
- Only distinctions that impose burdens, obligations or disadvantages on individuals who are members of groups protected by the prohibited grounds of discrimination are considered discriminatory.
- Where people require different treatment to achieve equality, the failure to provide it can impose burdens, obligations and disadvantages.
- Affirmative or proactive measures may be needed to remove some barriers and eliminate systemic discrimination. Any affirmative or proactive measures will need to be consistent with section 73 of the Human Rights Act 1993, and section 19(2) of the Bill of Rights Act - that is, the measures are taken in good faith to support people experiencing discrimination to overcome their disadvantaged situation and achieve equality with other members of their community.
According to these principles, disabled people are substantially disadvantaged in society. Traditionally, they have had little say and have not been included in the development of policies and programmes that affect them. Nor has there been information recorded on administrative forms about people’s impairment. This may mean there are grounds to positively discriminate to ensure they are included.
In some cases, there is a legal requirement for some special measures in order to treat citizens equally. For example, in courts New Zealand Sign Language interpreters are provided for Deaf people using New Zealand Sign Language to allow clear communication and access to information.