Disability Access News

Until recently, disabled people requiring extra space and therefore an extra seat on a Canadian airline would have been expected to pay for it. Now the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) has ruled that passengers with disabilities who need more space on a flight than other passengers will no longer have to pay double fares for the extra seat. Passengers who are disabled as a result of severe obesity will also be covered. The CTA has ordered Air Canada, Air Canada Jazz and WestJet to adopt a one-person, one-fare policy.

The airlines will not even be able to charge extra for an attendant who is accompanying the disabled person for their safety. They are now expected to develop a screening process to determine eligibility for the policy, looking at who is classed as an attendant, and what counts as severe obesity.

Further details can be found on the Canada.com website www.canada.com/theprovince/story.html?id=01f956b9-9188-4e0a-8d5f-5767e6f02938

Two solicitors from Russell-Cooke LLP have put together a document called ‘Possession Claims and Disability – What does the Future Hold?’ that looks at recent DDA case law on landlord and tenant issues. The document highlights that although the legal cases have helped to define what constitutes disability discrimination, disparities between the outcomes of different cases have led to a certain amount of confusion.

The document can be viewed on Russell-Cooke Solicitors’ website www.russell-cooke.co.uk/downloads/Contentious_Property_Article_October_2007.pdf

Changing Faces, a charity that supports and represents people with disfigurements, believes that discrimination is still taking place in the workplace towards people with disfigurements. Henrietta Spalding, head of professional development at the charity, says that there is a discrepancy between what the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) says and what actually takes place in the workplace.

In an interview with Workplace Law Network, Spalding said: ‘We had a report this morning from an individual who has found that when he doesn’t put disability on his CV, he is called to interview. But he has been to 200 interviews and still doesn’t have a job. There is a clear problem, and anecdotally we have a lot of evidence that people are not protected by the law, or at least good practice is not being demonstrated.’

Changing Faces is now undertaking research to gather information about what people with disfigurements actually experience within the workplace and when seeking employment. The charity hopes that it will strengthen the anecdotal evidence that it has been hearing for the past 15 years.