Presiding Officer Welcomes New Disability Rights



*Parliamentary News Release*
057/2004	27 September 2004

PRESIDING OFFICER WELCOMES NEW DISABILITY RIGHTS

Scottish Parliament Presiding Officer George Reid today joined forces with the Disability Rights Commission to highlight its ‘Open4All' campaign. Rolling out a huge ‘welcome' mat at Holyrood, which is already rated as one of the world's most physically accessible buildings, the campaign highlights the biggest shake-up of consumer legislation in a decade, affecting every high street in Scotland . As from Friday 1 October, the new duties, introduced under the Disability Discrimination Act, will require every business – from local shops to restaurants, health clubs, dentists and supermarkets – to become more user-friendly to Scotland 's one million disabled people. Presiding Officer George Reid said: “The European Union already rates the Holyrood Parliament building as being one of the most physically accessible buildings in the world, and it is only right that we should lead by example. “As from Friday, with the change in the law, the onus will be on businesses and services across Scotland to make sure that they too play their part in making their premises accessible to all.” Photo call details George Reid joined forces with disabled climber Jamie Andrew and Elaine Noad, Scottish Commissioner with the Disability Rights Commission, to unveil the ‘welcome' mat as part of the Open4All campaign to raise awareness of the new access duties. Holyrood accessibility features All areas of the new building are accessible to disabled people. Every element within the new Parliament building has been considered from an access perspective, including the specifications for furniture, the height of surfaces in catering areas and the design of security screening equipment. Features in the new Parliament building include: Infra-red and induction loop sound enhancement systems available for use in all the working areas of the Parliament. Six accessible parking spaces for disabled people in the Parliament's secure car parking area for use by staff and members, as well as six similar parking bays on Horse Wynd for use by visitors to the Parliament. Lifts from the visitors' gallery to ensure that disabled visitors can be evacuated safely and quickly should the need arise. Sixty-one out of 130 seats (there are 129 MSPs) have full wheelchair access. This will ensure that a wheelchair user could easily take their place as a backbench Member, a Minister, as First Minister or the Presiding Officer. Within the Chamber's public gallery permanent space is provided for six wheelchair users plus one space in the Presiding Officer's gallery and one space in the media gallery. That number can be increased (subject to health, safety and fire evacuation regulations) for special occasions, through planned flexibility, by the removal of seats to create additional space for up to a further seven wheelchair users. An independent company of access audit consultants, Buro Happold Ltd, was appointed to advise the Holyrood Design Team on all matters concerning people with disabilities. Buro Happold was an integral part of the Design Team, working closely with the architects to create the fully accessible facility required by the Building User Brief. A Parliament Building Consultation Group was set up to inform and support Buro Happold on all aspects of accessibility. Membership of the Group included people from a range of voluntary sector organisations covering physical, sensory and learning disabilities, as well as the needs of older people. More details on Parliament's accessibility features are included in our news release of 3 October 2003 : “Holyrood - One Of The Most Physically Accessible Parliaments In The World” Says Reid.

For further information, contact:
Richard Holligan: 0131 348 6269 email: richard.holligan@scottish.parliament.uk
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