Guide dog and assistance owners have important rights under the Equality Act 2010 (EA). The EA provides for people with disabilities to have the same right to services supplied by shops, banks, hotels, libraries, pubs, taxis and restaurants as everyone else.
Service providers also have to make “reasonable adjustments” for guide dog and assistance dog owners. In 2004 the law was extended to state that service providers have to consider making changes to “physical features” which make it unreasonably difficult for disabled people to use their services.
Under Part 12 of the EA it is also illegal for assistance dog owners to be refused access to a taxi or mincab with their assistance dog. Medical exemptions are available if drivers have a certificate from their GPs.
What the law means
It is against the law for service providers to treat people with disabilities less favourably because of their disability, or because they have a guide or assistance dog with them.
Making “reasonable adjustments” might mean giving extra help, such as guiding someone to a restaurant table, or making some changes to the way you provide your services to make it easier for blind and partially-sighted people to use them. It certainly includes allowing guide dogs and assistance dogs into all public places with their owners.
Guide dog and assistance dog owners have important rights under the Equality Act. The EA provides for disabled people to have the same right to services supplied by shops, banks, hotels, libraries, pubs, taxis and restaurants as everyone else.
The Equality Act 2010 can be found in full at www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/contents
Information for Service Providers
Meeting your obligations
As a service provider you will want to make sure you are meeting your obligations under the Equality Act and maximizing the opportunities to grow your business.
One of the best ways to find out what changes you need to make to your services to meet the requirements of the law is to talk to your customers who have disabilities as they will give you invaluable information about how the design of your premises affects their ability to use your services.
We want you and your colleagues to have the confidence to give your customers with disabilities the best possible service. We’ve set out a few of the basics here, which we hope will help. One thing everyone can do to enhance the service they provide is ensure staff receive disability awareness training.
The responsibilities of assistance dog owners
Guide dogs and assistance dogs are highly trained, and their owners will have had specialised training in the safe and effective use of their dog. The dog’s behaviour is a key part of this training – it will have been trained to lie quietly under tables or in the footwell of vehicles, and it should not cause any disruption.
The dog is the owner’s responsibility. In the rare event that an assistance dog misbehaves, please inform the owner who will be keen to control their dog.
If the assistance dog owner plans to be a regular customer, your premises may be included in their training programme so they become familiar with the surroundings.
All assistance dog owners carry a card advising that assistance dogs should not be a risk to health and hygiene. Assistance dogs are groomed daily and their health and condition is checked regularly by a vet.
Guide Dogs for the Blind have a number of useful booklets for service providers – see www.guidedogs.org.uk/whatwedo/access/accessopendoors/