disablity discrimination - trying to get justice

People often think that not discriminating against disabled people means they are getting an unfair advantage.  'Why should a disabled person have a blue badge in order to park near the supermarket?  They look perfectly fine to me...'
And that of course is the main part of the problem.  Everyone is an expert.  Everyone can tell, just by looking for a few moments, whether or not someone is ill, sick or disabled.

Except they can't.  Even doctors have taken years to get anywhere near a diagnosis for my problems, and the book is still open on that one.    So don't presume you can look at me and decide what is wrong.  You will only see me on a good day.  On bad days (and there are many of those) you will not see me at all because I will not be able to leave the house.  In fact, I am lucky if I can get out of bed.

Anyway, the whole purpose of equality legislation is to allow disabled people the same opportunities as everyone else to get on with their lives.  To shop, for example.  That's where my particular problem started.

Shops often forget that disabled people are their customers too.  They may provide a nice large disabled changing room, and then not understand that you need help in order to use it.  And in my case - horror of horrors! - my helper was my husband.  A man.

I've set out the whole sorry saga here.  

What happened next was quite an education.  You see, as I've mentioned before, one of the greatest weapons that governments use against people is ignorance.  People assume that because there is disability legislation in place that it will automatically kick in when something like this happens.  The fact is - it doesn't.  If you want justice, you have to go and fight for it.  And when you're feeling like me, that's often the last thing you feel like.

Anyway, I wrote off to the shop in question, and explained what had happened.  Their reply was pretty incredible:

I was deeply concerned to learn of the incident that occurred following your recent visit to our Cardiff store and I can only apologise for any inconvenience this has caused for you and your husband.

I have discussed this matter in full with the Store Manager. She has advised me that it not the usual policy to let males enter the fitting room area while they are waiting for their partner or friend. However, under certain circumstances, if a customer requests for them to assist in the fitting room, our staff should use their initiative and make allowances to accommodate them.

Now this was from the store's Customer Service department at their head office.  I can accept that an individual shop assistant may not have known what was what legally, or may have had a particular beef against portly old ladies with walking sticks, but I do not accept that Customer Services really had not heard of the relevant legislation.  Staff are not required to use their initiative or make allowances.  They are required to ensure that the disabled customer is not discriminated against, that they have the same opportunities as a non-disabled customer.





So... where next?  Watch this space.  It's going to take several posts to tell it all.