Discrimination questions - shops and services

Have you been treated unfairly in shops, pubs or clubs? Do other people get treated better when trying to access services or facilities? Read on to find out what problems other readers have experienced and what advice our discrimination expert gave them.

She made me feel uncomfortable and unwelcome

Dear Richard
I live in Northern Ireland and suffer from Gilles de la Tourettes syndrome. Today I went shopping with my wife and we went into a ladies lingerie shop. Now, my illness causes me to make vocal sounds which I can not control, sometimes they are very loud.

On entering the shop the lady supervisor started giving me below the eyebrow dirty looks the whole time I was there. She made me feel very uncomfortable and embarrassed about myself and unwelcome. I asked the lady for an explanation for her behavior and she shrugged her shoulders.

Can I do anything about this, is there any disability law that would allow me to prosecute the company because their employee made me feel so bad about myself?

Richard says:
I am sorry to hear about your unhappy experience at the shop. The Disability Discrimination Act (which covers Northern Ireland) certainly covers your medical condition and your situation.

The dirty looks you were subjected to are covered by the law. The standard of service or the manner of service provided by the shop to a disabled person can be discriminatory if it is different compared to that given to a non disabled person. This is so even if your wife was the shopper and you were just accompanying her. The shop should not have made you feel bad about yourself in the way they treated you, as someone accompanying a customer. The same standard or manner of service should be provided to all customers, regardless of their disability.

Although you have the right to sue the shop for this wrongdoing in the county court (the time limit is six months from the date of the discrimination), my advice is to firstly make a formal complaint to the shop about the incident. A lot of discrimination against disabled people is often unintended (which of course does not make it lawful), and results from the absence of an equal opportunities policy or poor equalities training for the staff.

If the shop fails to treat your complaint seriously, you can take the next step, which is to send the shop a discrimination questionnaire, asking relevant questions, like: why did the shop assistant give me a dirty look? Why did she fail to provide an explanation when asked? Did other shoppers complain about my medical condition? The fact that you have a medical condition of making involuntary loud noises should not be a reason for treating you with less respect and dignity, as allowances should have been made for your medical condition, particularly as you tried to explain this to them. There is, I am afraid, great ignorance about people suffering from Tourettes syndrome.

You can read more on the different options you have for taking action in our guide 'You don't have to put up with it!' - see the links on the right hand side. If you do want to think about sending a discrimination questionnaire or taking a case to court it would be a good idea to speak to an adviser or to the Equality Commission in Northern Ireland, to help you weigh up your different options.

Age discrimination in entertainment

Dear Richard
I am concerned about general age discrimination, in entertainment and the theatre. Rockcorps offers free gig tickets for four hours volunteering, but only to people aged 16-25. Similarly, the Royal Shakespeare Company offers 5 tickets, but only to those aged 16-25. I am 68, fit and already doing enough volunteering.

Richard says:
It appears as though these organisations may possibly be practising age discrimination in recruiting volunteers aged between 16-27 years only. Anyone over this age bracket is not considered as a volunteer. The allocation of free tickets that is limited to this age group is also discriminatory. This is direct age discrimination in that these two companies are treating younger people more favourably than older people.

They could try to justify their ageist policy and practice, by, for example, arguing that the volunteers need to be young because of the physical nature of the work. But this sounds like stereotypical assumptions about the health and fitness of people, depending on their respective ages. Age should not be a barrier to work, unless there are valid heath and safety reasons, supported by medical evidence and not assumptions.

The problem with anyone making a claim for age discrimination is that presently the anti discrimination legislation covers only employees, the self employed, contract workers, and other categories; but specifically not volunteers, since there is no employment relationship between a volunteer and an employer. Volunteers therefore can be subject to discrimination and are without legal redress, unfortunately.

You might consider informing the Commission for Equalities and Human Rights about this matter, since this organisation has been set up to investigate discriminatory practices in certain employment sectors, both in the public and private sector. You may also make a complaint to these two companies, informing them that their present policy and practice is not equal opportunities, and disadvantages older people.

How far do we have to go?

Dear Richard
I work as a clerk to a parish council which meets in the village hall. This is a new building and has a hearing loop. In response to a complaint from a resident that he could not hear properly during the meetings the village hall committee has spent a year putting in place additional equipment including additional microphones etc. According to the resident this has not improved the matter and he still has problems hearing the debate at the council meeting.

In partnership with the village hall committee the parish council has run a series of tests with other residents who wear hearing aids and they have had no problems with the hearing loop. Also residents attending other meetings held in the village hall have not reported any problems when asked.

I seek guidance on two matters:

• Do we have to continue to strive to satisfy this one resident regardless of cost, time etc or is there a defined time when we can say that we have done all we can and he can not claim that we are discriminating against him?
• Who's responsibility is it to comply with the Disability Discrimination Act? The Parish Council because it is its meeting the gentleman is attending or the village hall committee because it is their room?

Richard says:
The parish council, as the service provider, is primarily responsible under the Disability Discrimination Act to ensure that its council meetings are accessible to the public, including the disabled public.

More specifically, it is unlawful for the council to fail to comply with its duty to make 'reasonable adjustments' where the effect of the failure is to make it impossible or unreasonably difficult for the disabled person to make use of the service. Since you have installed and checked hearing loops and microphones it is arguable that you have complied with the duty. It may be worth checking with the disabled person if their hearing aid is working properly or if it's incompatible with the loops you've installed. You could also check whether their deafness is more profound so that they could benefit from a sign language interpreter. The emphasis is very much on consulting with the disabled person as to exactly what the problem is and how it might be solved.

However, the duty is to make reasonable adjustments. Although there is no definition in the Disability Discrimination Act of what is meant by 'reasonable' it is likely that cost and effectiveness of any proposed solution can be taken into account in deciding what is reasonable. However since you are a 'public authority' more will be expected of you than say a small business with limited staff and resources.

Also, although this seems unlikely to apply as the building is new, if there is any physical feature of the building for example, poor acoustics which interferes with the adjustments made then the council will be under a duty to make physical changes to the building. However in this context cost and effectiveness can be taken into account.

Ultimately you cannot prevent some-one from bringing a claim under the Disability Discrimination Act but you would be well advised to ensure that you have consulted and taken all reasonable and practical steps to overcome the problem.

For more information on providing reasonable adjustments see the links on the right hand side.

They want me to stay in the corner

Dear Richard
I am a full-time wheelchair user. I have started a dog showing club so I can learn how to show my puppy. I attend a weekly club with my youngest daughter (13), at the town hall, a new build and very disabled friendly.

But then I had a phone call telling me that if I want to attend any more classes I will have to transfer to a normal chair in the corner of the hall and not to use my manual wheelchair just because I might bump into another handler or dog. I must add that I haven't bumped into anything yet! I am so upset. Please give me advice.

Richard says:
I'm not surprised that you are upset, but I hope my advice will help.

You have starting going to a club that is open to members of public. The town hall allows club organisers to use its premises to hold club events there. As a disabled person, you are protected in these circumstances under the Disability Discrimination Act in a number of ways.

Being a club open to members of the public, the organisers must provide its services to you on no less favourable terms than to non-disabled users. And they also have a duty to make reasonable adjustments, that is, to take reasonable steps to change any arrangements that put you at a disadvantage compared with non-disabled people.

By making you sit in the corner on a normal chair so you can only watch and not take part, it seems to me that the organisers are not fulfilling their obligations. In some circumstances providers of services might be able to justify less favourable treatment and I suspect the club asked you to transfer to a normal chair because they were thinking of their health and safety obligations towards the other members and their pets. But, in doing this, they’ve forgotten the equally important obligations they have to you.

Rather than making a complaint straight away, I’d start off by explaining to the organisers that you don’t think they’re meeting their obligations towards you under the Disability Discrimination Act and that you will work with them to find a satisfactory solution. That way, you can try and maintain a good relationship with everyone there.

But if this doesn’t work, you may want to make a complaint to the club or the owners of the town hall. If this doesn’t get results and you want to take the matter further, you could take legal action against them (although this is quite a drastic measure!) or maybe tell your story to the local press.

The law treats private clubs slightly differently. If this dog-showing club is not open to members of the public, the organisers’ obligations may be different.

They made her feel so small

Dear Richard
A young single parent severely disabled was refused entry into a property which she was more than keen to view and hopefully purchase at the asking price. She had made prior arrangement to view through an estate agent. But on arriving at the property at the agreed date and time she was informed by the vendor's wife she couldn't go in to view as she did not want the wheelchair in.

This young girl is severely disabled and needs 24 hour around the clock care and cannot manage without her wheelchair and is in fact bedridden. It took a long time and a lot of physical effort on her part and her carers to get her out of bed into the wheelchair only then to be told she couldn't go in, but the carers who accompanied her could. The young lady decided to leave and went home upset and very distraught feeling so small.

The reason given later to the vendor's estate agent was the wife of the vendor felt uneasy about letting the girl and her two carers in as her husband was not at home. This is proven to be a blatant lie as the vendor was mowing grass at the time. The estate agent was contacted by myself, given the young girl's side of the story and made aware there were witnesses as to what actually happened. They since contacted the vendor and have pointed out that if they are not prepared to allow this young lady access accompanied by her solicitor that they would have no option but to withdraw their services and remove their house off the market. I made it very clear to the estate agent when I first got in touch with them, that I was not prepared to let the matter lie, but thanked them for their support. They obviously saw it as discrimination against this young girl. What are her legal rights now regarding the vendor and what should she do?

Richard says:
This was a most unfortunate incident, which must have been very distressing for your client/friend. You are asking whether her treatment was unlawful, and if so, what can be done about it. The Disability Discrimination Act makes it illegal to treat disabled people differently in situations like the buying and selling of property. A vendor should treat all potential buyers equally, regardless of whether they are wheelchair bound or not. This particular vendor clearly discriminated against your client in refusing access to the property because she was physically disabled.

The law covers situations where the vendor uses an estate agent in selling property (as opposed to a private sale). Therefore, the discriminatory action of this particular vendor is covered by the law. I applaud the action of the estate agents, who did the right thing in threatening to cease acting for their client, if she persisted in denying your client access to the property.

Now that we have established that the vendor has committed an act of unlawful discrimination, the question is what can be done about it. As a victim of discrimination, your client can sue the vendor for discrimination in the county court (see the link on the right hand side for more information). There is a six month time limit for bringing the claim. If successful, she would get compensation for injury to feelings and any financial loss suffered. If she decides to take legal action, you can contact the Commission for Equalities and Human Rights, who can give further legal advice.

I think I'm experiencing discrimination

Dear Richard
I am experiencing what I believe is discrimination. I am profoundly deaf and am trying to get some mobile phone companies to acknowledge the need for different monthly contract packages for the deaf, who use predominantly text messages or calls linked to type talk. These cost in addition to any contractual minutes and as such these minutes would not be used and have to paid for. All have said they will come back to me with a solution but the only one who has is T Mobile who state that the contract is for minutes or texts so therefore flexible. Do you think I can continue to pursue them under discrimination law?

Richard says:
I understand that you feel discriminated against because mobile phone companies are failing to provide different monthly contracts to people profoundly deaf, like yourself. The Disability Discrimination Act places a legal obligation on providers of goods and services (for example, phone companies) to make reasonable adjustments to ensure that disabled service users are not disadvantaged. By offering a single package to all users, disabled and non-disabled, these phone companies may well be treating their disabled customers unlawfully.

Good practice should mean either that existing monthly packages are flexible or that special packages are offered to disabled customers (but at the same cost). You can take further action. The mobile telephone companies should have a customer complaints procedure, which you could use. If this does not produce results, then you might consider making a complaint to the Office of Communications (OFCOM), a consumer watchdog that should cover services provided by mobile phone companies. In any event, you can take legal action against these companies for disability discrimination. The Commission for Equalities and Human Rights (ECHR) can give you advice on legal action.

July 2008