Heritage property, tourism and the UK Disability Discrimination Act

Abstract

Heritage tourism depends on a physical resource based primarily on listed buildings and scheduled monuments. Visiting or staying in a historic building provides a rich tourism experience, but historic environments date from eras when access for disabled people was not a consideration. Current UK Government policy now promotes social inclusion via an array of equal opportunities, widening participation and anti‐discrimination policies. Historic environments enjoy considerable legislative protection from adverse change, but now need to balance conservation with public access for all. This paper discusses the basis of research being undertaken by The College of Estate Management funded by the Mercers Company of London and the Harold Samuel Trust. It assesses how the 1995 Disability Discrimination Act has changed the legal obligations of owners/operators in managing access to listed buildings in tourism use. It also examines the key stakeholders and power structures in the management of historic buildings and distinguishes other important players in the management process.

Inherent complexity: Disability, accessible tourism and accommodation information preferences

“…Their experiences and evidence identified through complaint cases brought under disability discrimination legislation has been far from satisfactory (Darcy & Taylor, 2009;Goodall, 2002;Goodall et al, 2004; Orientation to the room Evacuation orientation 13.…”

“…In the Australian context, these studies have been validated by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) complaints cases and Federal court actions (Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, 2006) taken by PwD against accommodation providers. A number of studies have reviewed these issues through examining the actions taken under disability discrimination legislation (Darcy & Taylor, 2009;Goodall, 2002;Goodall, Pottinger, Dixon, & Russell, 2004;Miller & Kirk, 2002;Shaw, 2007).…”

The Significance of Staff Assistance in Accessibility of Public Buildings

“…Staffs need to be taught on how to interact with PWD and they also need to be ready and willing to assist visitors who need help anytime during their service, especially during an emergency situation (Goodall et al, 2004;Abdul Rahim and Abd Samad, 2010). In addition to that, this study proposes a list of guidelines for front-liner staff in regards to good hospitality practice, as follows:…”

“…A survey found that, in the general context of service provision, about 40% of the PWD respondents emphasize more on positive attitude from the staff than other factors such as money value paid for the service (DRC, 2003). However, there still poor hospitality by the staff and building managers towards visitors with disabilities, which is rooted from their lack of skills on how best to interact with PWD, and their stereotype towards the disabled people as well (Goodall et al, 2004).…”

HIV‐infected employees in the Asian hospitality industry

“…Equal employment opportunities Equal employment opportunity (EEO) is enacted internationally to ensure all employees are given equal opportunities in employment, are equally rewarded based on individual performance and fairly treated in the workplace, so protecting minority workers against discrimination (Goodall et al, 2004;Burke, 2005). Such legislation acts as a framework for businesses to avoid unnecessary expensive lawsuits.…”