St. Thomas à Becket Foundation 
making a difference
 
 
 

I have always found Easter to be a time of great joy and excitement. Usually because there are so
many family birthdays celebrated during the month of April.
More importantly, at this time of year we have a clearer picture as to who will win the Premiership and the FA Cup.  With Easter coming so early this year, it has left me a little disorientated with regards the climax of the football season.  As I write Manchester United who are currently at the summit of the Football League will have 7 League fixtures still to play following Easter Sunday. 

That is a lot of football and a lot of points to play for.
While United may be one of the top premiership clubs it is interesting to note that they lay 16th in the league following a survey conducted by the National Association of Disabled Supporters (NADS) which found that only Blackburn and Bolton had sufficient spaces for disabled supporters with Arsenal falling just short.

Chelsea, Spurs and Portsmouth fell embarrassingly short with just a
third of the required spaces.

With approximately 30,000 disabled supporters regularly attending matches in England, it looks as if football in general is putting up a poor show.  NADS had laid out their recommendations in their Accessible Stadia Guide in 2003, and these recommendations were endorsed by the Premier League and the Football Association, this makes the results even more shocking.
Listening to Radio Five Live, investigating the matter there were some very interesting responses from those clubs who failed to meet the criteria. 

  Equally remarkable were the views of a number of fans, one of whom was an able bodied supporter who felt that giving additional seats to wheelchair users was ‘unfair to the rest of us.’
When I heard this examination expressed it short-cut my memory to a view I was presented with regarding car parking provision for people with disabilities in a church car park within our own diocese:  ‘It’s not fair that able bodied people can’t park their car because the space is left for a disabled person who isn’t here!’  Unfortunately I do not have enough word space to relay verbatim the entire exchange of views; need less to say we parted ‘agreeing to differ.’ 

Fairness is a difficult thing to establish and measure.  What is fair for one individual is not for another; what one person considers right the other views as wrong.

Our moral outlook is often driven by our upbringing, culture, personal experiences and faith.  It is to the latter that I turned to for moral guidance and instruction of what is the right thing to do, and to our Lord himself, for I believe that he was a man that would argue till the cows come home, and would have raised an eyebrow or two had he phoned into the Radio 5 Live debate.
And so I enquired regarding this car parking matter:  “Lord” I asked, “should we really be expected to meet the requirement of the law regarding disability access to all our churches (and football grounds) especially when some of these buildings were erected in the 19 century and beyond?”

I listened attentively and our Lord presented these words to my heart through scripture and a learned friend of faith:
“Do you remember the man with the withered hand?”  he said.  “He was cured on the Sabbath.  Now strictly speaking I should not have healed that man on the Sabbath for according to the Law of Moses no work was to be carried out on this day of rest.  But how could I refuse someone who needed my help." 
         Would you refuse to help someone in need?
Remember ‘The Good Samaritan.’  Would you walk on the other side or would you cross the road and help the injured man, even if it meant breaking the law?   Ask yourself: ‘What are laws for?’  They are there to protect people.  Concerning your interest in football the laws are there to protect football and to protect the right to watch football. 

The Good Samaritan

“You always need to ask yourself and remind yourself of what the law is trying to achieve.

With this in mind remember that the gospel I give you asks you not only to try and fulfil the law but to enrich the law.  Particularly enriching the law for the dispossessed and disadvantaged in our world.  What people are being called upon to achieve with public buildings is to protect the rights of people with a disability to access these buildings.  What I need to be achieved for my church is to go that ‘extra mile’ and provide what educationalists call:  ‘Value Added’. 

No matter what the age of the building, football ground, or church, a Level Playing Field must be our goal!”
Click on Blackburn or Bolton Logos above to visit their websites
National Association of Disabled Supporters  DirectGov-Disabled People

The Disability Discrimination Act
see below


The Disability Discrimination Act (1995) –
An Outline of Its Implications for Churches

 

 

In 1995, the British parliament passed the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) in order to protect the rights of disabled people.  Its aim is to create greater equality in society between non-disabled and disable people alike.  The Act is consequently being implemented in three stages.

 

   1)   From 1996, to treat a disabled person less favourably because they have a disability is illegal.

   2)   From October 1999, service providers (including churches) have a responsibility to make reasonable adjustments to the delivery of their services in order to make them accessible to people with disabilities at the same level at which they are accessible to non-disabled people.

   3)   From 2004, service providers must have made reasonable adjustments to the physical features of their buildings in order to make them accessible to people with disabilities.

 

It is illegal, therefore, for churches to discriminate against disabled people for a reason that is related specifically to their disability.  Churches also need to be making adjustments to the ways in which services (meaning the whole of the church’s life together) are offered.

 

Examples

 

   *   If a person requests that all printed material (including service sheets, church council minutes, etc)  be given to her in a large print format, then a church is required to respond to this need.


   *   If coffee is usually served in a room that is down a flight of stairs with no other way of entering the room, then moving the place where coffee is served to another accessible location is acceptable.


   *   A person should not be barred from becoming a church steward or a lay minister because they have a disability.

 

Thus most of what a church can do to become more accessible to people with disabilities and to comply with the Act really does take little effort and little cost.

 

From 2004, churches will need to make reasonable adjustments to their buildings in order to make them accessible.  This includes:  installing ramps at both the entrance and at any raised area of the church, including handrails where there are stairs, making the route to the church level, and installing a loop system to aid audibility.

 

All services that a church offers that are open to any member of the public should take place in an accessible location with accessible facilities because no one can predict whether a person with disabilities will attend or not.  By 2004, churches should have made reasonable adjustments to their buildings in order to make them accessible.  A meeting which is closed to the public (such as a Parochial Church Council meeting) at which it is known no person with a disability will attend does not need to be in an accessible location.  However, should a person with a disability be elected on to the PCC, then everything reasonable should be done to make the venue accessible.  Alternatively, the venue could be changed.

 

The term ‘reasonable adjustments’ is important for churches to bear in mind when they are considering making any adjustments to their services or buildings.  Issues that need to be taken into account when considering whether an adjustment is reasonable or not include:

 

   *   To what extent is the adjustment practical?

   *   How much will it cost?

   *   Is the building listed and if so, has the church sought permission from English Heritage?

 

No church will be forced to close if it is unable practically to make adjustments to its buildings or services or if the members simply cannot afford it.  Churches will, however, be expected to do as much as they can to make their services and buildings as accessible as possible.

 

The most useful thing which a church can do is to talk to people with disabilities and learn from them about how best to make services and buildings accessible.  They will have first-hand experience of difficulties with access, and practical suggestions about how to overcome the difficulties.

 

For further information on the DDA, access issues and information on grants contact:

 

Church Action on Disability

50 Scrutton Street

London

EC2A 4XQ                          Telephone:  020 7452 2085

 
 
If you would like to download a Word version of this document click here