Second Stage Growth

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Presentation Will Cover
Presentation to Cover

• WW Introduction to VST and where our profits go
• WW What are alternative formats Best Practice
• DT What is the Disability Discrimination Act
  (DDA)
• 
  Disability Equality Duty (DED)
• DT The Social and Business Arguments
• WW From the end user perspective
• WW Implementation
• WW Questions and Answers

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VST Mission Statement

• Our Company exists to generate income for
• Vision Support by undertaking profitable
• business activities which enable people with a
• visual impairment to grow their independence.

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Company background

• We exist to generate income for Vision Support -
  a charity established since 1876, supporting
  people with sight loss.
• All profits are transferred to the voluntary
  sector side of the organisation.
• End user focus - driven by needs of people with
  sight loss, not just corporate customers or of
  the need for compliance.
• Company Established in 2001
• Employs over 80 people providing alternative
  format solutions to over 30 Clients.

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VST

• Business
• Produce materials for visually impaired end
  users, transcribing originals to- Reformated
  Large Print, Braille Audio.

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Our customers
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What Happens to Our Profits

• Profits covenanted to Vision Support
• Vision Support provides services for people who
• are visually impaired across Cheshire North
• Wales

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Provide what VST Customers Need

• 24/48 Hour turnaround
• Help them meet Corporate Social Responsibility
• Requirements
• Quality Assurance
• Expertise / Advice - DDA Compliance
• Understand End User Requirements

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Statistics

• In the U.K. 2 million people have a serious sight
  problem, 300,000 are
• registered as blind
• About 4,000 employed Britons lose their sight
  every year
• 82 of blind and partially sighted people are
  over 65 years
• The number of braille users is estimated to be
  about 3 of the visually impaired population
  nationally, an estimate 19,000 people )Bruce et
  al, 1991)
• The proportion of Moon users is much lower, no
  more than 500-600 nationally
• The majority of visually impaired people can
  listen to audio as an accessible format

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(No Transcript)
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Alternative formats
Audio tape/CD
Braille
Modified large print
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Braille

• Braille
• Braille is a method of reading by touch, using
  sets of 6 raised dots, displayed in different
  combinations to indicate different letters of the
  alphabet, numbers and punctuation.
• Braille at VST is double sided, so is less
  wieldy.
• It is printed onto A4 braille paper, more user
  friendly than larger sizes.
• Thicker braille paper is used to enable more
  prominent embossing.
• We use grade II braille which is easier to read
  than grade I as it uses combinations of letters
  to represent some words, enabling faster reading
  and making the transcribed text less bulky.
• Our braillists are highly recognised in the
  industry and have considerable knowledge
  regarding best practice and industry standards.

(Percentages of alternative formats
requested)
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Modified Large Print

• A4 paper Fits through letter boxes and easier to
  store than A3, and it removes
• the need to fold in
  half to fit envelopes
• Font Size Modification uses an increased number
  of points, therefore larger font
  sizes are far clearer. We
  recommend 20pt minimum .
• Type Face Modified to a sans serif font is much
  easier to read than the likes of
• Times Roman, using a
  combination of standard and bold
• Contrast Modified format uses tables which are
  far more user-friendly
• Colour Modification removes overlays and
  difficult colours

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Audio
Tape
Compact Disc

• Digitised audio recording
• Digital editing of master templates
• Labelled with corporate branding

• Clear, easy to understand
• alternative to print, and to
• braille
• Tone index, beeps,
• pauses
• Boxed, with corporate
• branding

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Audio Mastering

• Digital Recording of Masters
• Digital Editing/Changes
• Held on Library for Call-off
• Multiple Duplication

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What counts as a disability according to the law?
The DDA says you are disabled if you have 1. A
mental or physical impairment. 2. This has an
adverse effect on your ability to carry out
normal day-to-day activities. 3. The effect is
substantial. 4. The adverse effect is long term
(meaning it has lasted for 12 months, or is
likely to last for more than 12 months or the
rest of your life).
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What are normal day-to-day activities?

• At least one of these areas must be substantially
  affected
• Eyesight, hearing or speech.
• Physical co-ordination, mobility or manual
  dexterity.
• Ability to lift, carry or move everyday objects.
• Memory or ability to concentrate, learn or
  understand.
• Continence.
• Understanding the risk of physical danger.

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The Disability Discrimination ACT

• Part 3 of the DDA concerns the provision of goods
  and services.
• It prohibits discrimination by anyone who
  provides goods, facilities or services to members
  of the public whether paid for or free.

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Discrimination by providers of goods, services or
facilities.

• It is against the law to discriminate against a
  disabled person, without legal justification by
• Refusing to serve them.
• Providing a worse standard of service.
• Providing a service to a disabled person on worse
  terms.

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Adjustments to the way goods, facilities and
services are provided.

• Anticipatory duty.
• Service providers must make reasonable
  adjustments to the way in which their services
  are provided if disabled customers find it
  unreasonable difficult or impossible to use their
  services.

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Anticipatory duty requirements.

• Unlike employment provisions where an employer
  only has to make reasonable adjustments when it
  knows (or ought reasonably be expected to know)
  that a disabled person needs them, service
  providers must anticipate that they will have
  disabled customers and have made adjustments for
  them in advance

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The Disability Equality Duty.

• This became law on December 4th 2006.
• The main aim of the Disability Equality Duty is
  to get public authorities to think and act
  proactively on disability equality issues from
  the start. This will help them to identify from
  the beginning, where and how, unnecessary
  barriers are created to the equal participation
  of disabled users of their services as well as
  current and potential employees.

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The Disability Equality Duty

• This is not just about physical/sensory barriers
  but also barriers which are created by the way
  services, policies or practices are designed.
  Understanding these barriers will help ensure the
  public sector plays its full roll in enabling
  disabled people to participate in all aspects of
  society as equal citizens.

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The Disability Equality Duty

• This duty is therefore aimed at ensuring, for the
  first time ever, that public authorities take
  responsibility for tackling institutional
  disability-related discrimination.
• It is not about more individual rights instead
  it is about improving public authorities
  policies and services as a whole for all disabled
  people.

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The Disability Equality Duty

• The duty reflects the social model of disability
  which takes the approach of focusing on
  structures and the barriers that disabled
  individuals experience and provides tools for
  dismantling and preventing these. Adopting this
  social model approach challenges people to move
  from a solely medical approach to disability,
  which concentrates on medical conditions and
  impairments as the main reason for the
  difficulties experienced by disabled people, to a
  social model approach which recognises the
  negative impact on disabled people of a society
  designed for non-disabled people and takes active
  steps to promote equality for disabled people.
  Source DRC

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The Disability Equality Duty

• Of key importance are the obligations the duty
  gives to key public authorities to involve
  disabled people in developing their Disability
  Equality Scheme. This will allow public
  authorities to really understand what the issues
  are for disabled people and help them to tackle
  these issues at their root causes.

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The General Duty

• The Disability Equality Duty comprises two parts
• 1. The general duty.
• 2. The specific duties.
• The general duty is an over-arching framework to
  help public authorities to better achieve
  disability equality. It asks authorities to
  respond to the following six requirements

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The General Duty

• 1. The need to promote equality of opportunity
  between disabled persons and other persons.
• 2. The need to eliminate discrimination that is
  unlawful under the DDA.
• 4. The need to promote positive attitudes towards
  disabled people.

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The General Duty

• 4. The need to eliminate harassment of disabled
  persons that is related to their disabilities.
• 5. The need to encourage participation by
  disabled persons in public life.
• 6. The need to take steps to take account of
  disabled persons disabilities, even where that
  involves treating disabled persons more
  favourably than other persons

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Who does the General duty apply to?

• The general duty applies to all public
  authorities (with a handful of specialised
  exceptions). This includes government
  departments, local authorities and schools.
  Voluntary and private sector organisations are
  also subject to the general duty where they are
  delivering services commissioned by public
  authorities.

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The specific duties

• The essential elements the scheme must cover are
• 1. A statement of how disabled people have been
  involved in developing the scheme.
• 2. An action plan (setting out the steps that the
  authority will take to comply with the general
  duty).
• 3. Arrangements for gathering information about
  performance of the public authority on
• disability equality.

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The Specific Duties

• 4. arrangements for assessing the impact of the
  activities of the authority on disabled equality
• and
• 5. details of how the public authority is going
  to use the information gathered, in particular in
  reviewing the effectiveness of its action plan
  and preparing subsequent schemes.

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The specific duty

• A report on the implementation of the scheme, in
  particular on the results of information
  gathering and what use has been made of the
  information, as well as what steps from the
  action plan have been taken, must be published
  annually. The scheme must be reviewed and
  revised every three years.

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How are these rights enforced?

• Disabled individuals who feel that they have been
  discriminated against can take legal proceedings
  against a service provider.
• These complaints are taken to the county court.
• If the complaint is successful damages can be
  awarded for financial loss and/or injury to
  feeling.

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How are these rights enforced?

• There is no limit to the amount of damages that
  can be paid.
• The court can also issue injunctions requiring a
  service provider to take, or to desist from
  taking, certain actions.

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How are these rights enforced?

• The Disability Rights Commission was launched in
  April 2000. The Commission has enforcement powers
  to enable it to fulfil its task of securing civil
  rights for disabled people.

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How are these rights enforced?

• The power to conduct formal investigations.
• The power to serve non-discrimination notices
• The power to act over persistent discrimination
• The power to provide assistance to an individual
  who is bringing proceedings in connection with
  unlawful discrimination
• The power to issue codes of practice.
• The power for conciliation of disputes.

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How are these rights enforced?

• In Northern Ireland the equivalent body is the
  Equality Commission of Northern Ireland.
• The DRC will merge in October 2007 with the
  Commission for Racial Equality and the Equal
  Opportunities Commission to form a joint
  Commission for Equality and Human Rights (CEHR)
  that will also deal with discrimination on
  grounds of religion and belief, sexual
  orientation and age.

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Current and future policies.

• Adopting best practice is not only the most
  legally prudent option but it serves all
  customers to the best possible standard.
• To work within the spirit of the ACT is not only
  the best option for an individual company but for
  the end user who will remain loyal to you and
  recommend you to family and friends.

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Current and future policies

• Seeking merely to comply with the letter of the
  law is a high risk approach as the DDA and DED
  can be unpredictable in interpretation.
• A body of case law is yet to be established and
  working practices are being continually
  challenged.
• It is a high risk strategy to quibble over
  whether a customer is covered by the ACT.

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Current and future policies.

• The argument for adopting a best policy approach
  is not limited to obeying the law but has its
  roots in commercial benefits and social
  responsibility.

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Corporate Social Responsibility

• The provision of alternative formats to those
  people with a visual impairment is about good
  customer service to all.
• This discrimination against people with a visual
  impairment impacts on the brand of a company
  amongst those excluded and their friends and
  family.
• Doing the right thing is at best a way of
  distinguishing yourself from competitors but also
  prevents competitors from taking the advantage in
  this area.

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Commercial Sense

• With over 2 million people in the UK having a
  visual impairment and the millions more friends
  and family that they have by not meeting the
  needs of this Group over 5 million potential
  customers may look to a competitor.
• Good customer service keep customers especially
  if you are the only one meeting their
  requirements. This improved customer loyalty
  represents increased lifetime spend.
• By communicating not just bills but all marketing
  literature individual spend can be increased
  amongst a loyal customer segment.

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Things to consider.

• Can alternative formats be easily accessed by
  your customers?
• Do they have to continually request them?
• Do they receive all of the materials that are
  sent to the customers without a visual
  impairment?
• Do they receive the items in a timely fashion?

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The most important adjustment.

• Attitude.
• All staff who deal with customers should be
  trained in the DDA and the need to make
  reasonable adjustments to help a disabled
  customer use a service.

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Common Eye Conditions

• Central vision loss and some varying degrees of
  vision distortion around the central vision.
• Often a result of retinal bleeds due to
  diabetes or retinal detachment.
• May result from retinitis pigmentosa or
  glaucoma.
• Gradual loss of peripheral vision resulting in
  loss of night vision while retaining central
  colour vision.

• Macular Degeneration
• (Lens 4)
• Floater
• (Lens 5)
• Tunnel Vision
• (Lens 7)
• Retinitis Pigmentosa
• (Lens 8)

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Presentation Will Cover
Best Practice

• Ensure all information available in a range of
  alternative formats
• Ensure supplier holds a library of frequently
  requested items and that it is updated
• Ensure systems record detail of format required
  and that this is shared across the organisation
• Provide training for staff on disability
  awareness issues
• Ensure information received by customer is timely

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Presentation Will Cover
Issues for the end user

• Information not received on time
• Information enlarged on photocopier rather than
  reformatted
• Braille too large for letter box
• Information not provided in alternative format

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vision support trading
Leading the Way in Transcription Services
Providing alternative formatting
solutions Wendy Wedmore Tel 01244
651900 www.vstrading.co.uk