Disability access

Under anti-discrimination law, people with disabilities should not be prevented from using public services, areas and facilities.

This means that people with a disability should:

• be able to enter buildings and move freely inside
• have access to facilities like toilets and lifts
• not be confined to a segregated space or the worst seats
• have access to all customer and client information.

By law, all assistance (guide) dogs for seeing, hearing or mobility, must be allowed to accompany their owners, even into eating areas.

Businesses need to make reasonable adjustments to any practice, policy or procedure which makes it impossible or unreasonably difficult for a person with a guide dog to obtain goods, facilities or services. For example, business should specify that guide dogs are exempt from any 'no animals allowed' policy.

Reasonable adjustments

Businesses should make reasonable adjustments for people with disabilities.

What is reasonable will depend on:

• the size of a business
• the difficulty and cost of making adjustments
• whether the adjustments will work
• health and safety factors.

Disability Access Standards

The Disability (Access to Premises - buildings) Standards set the minimum access requirements for people with a disability to publicly access buildings, services and facilities.

These Standards make public buildings more accessible for people with mobility, vision and hearing impairments.

In addition to providing better access to buildings, the Premises Standards provide certainty to building certifiers, developers and managers that they are complying with their obligations under the Act.

Disability Access Reporting Tool (DART)

A tool is available to help people tell venues about access difficulties they experience.

It's an opportunity for the premises to become aware of and address an access issue.