Equality Scheme Appendix 3 - Comments
This Appendix can be also downloaded in PDF format. Please contact the Disability Equality and Access Officer, jane.young@rbk.kingston.gov.uk, or phone 020 8547 5314 if you have difficulty accessing this document because of disability or language.
Comments
Examples of what disabled residents and staff said about our current performance in the area of disability equality
In relation to pavements:
‘The pavements in the roads where I live are not properly maintained by the Council. I rarely go out on foot by myself, for fear of falling. I use a minicab, but that quickly uses up the mobility component in my DLA.’
In relation to provision of information:
‘The Council is not always good at conveying information. This applies to renewing the freedom pass; and getting a taxi card and information about capital call.’
‘There are still some council departments who need to get a grip on educating their customer facing staff on what they can offer to blind people. Housing and planning, highways and maybe others are sometimes confused when rung up about literature.’
In relation to accessing Council meetings:
‘Council and neighbourhood meetings are too visual, eg pink chits etc used to bring items to the front of the agenda.’
‘Another thing that should never be said is, "Oh, it's alright - I have a loud voice. I don't need a microphone." I have heard too many people say that, and the point is, it is not they who need the microphone, it is the people with a hearing problem who need them to use a microphone! It is important to note that if sounds do not go through the microphone they do not go through the loop system and therefore cannot be heard by hearing aid users.’
In relation to the management and support of disabled staff:
‘I feel that too much discretion is given to managers in relation to managing disabled staff and there is no clear direction from HR in this respect. This is fine if you have a good manager who is reasonable and either understands or tries to understand some of the issues faced by disabled employees but absolutely hopeless if you have a manager who doesn't even want to try and understand. This obviously creates serious inequality amongst staff and can lead to resentment and general bad feeling which is not good for anyone.’
‘Personally I find that we invest a lot of time and training in Disability Awareness for dealing with service users, but staff don't apply it to [disabled] colleagues.’