The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) states that businesses that provide ‘goods and services’ must make ‘reasonable adjustments’ for disabled people.

The DDA may influence your entire business, from how you treat your staff, people who apply for jobs at your business, and of course – your customers.  If you fail to do what is deemed as reasonable to adapt your business to the needs of disabled people, then legal action could be taken against you.

If you’re not motivated by compliance with the law (or the ethics behind disability access), a free service created by directenquiries.com allows businesses with ‘good’ access and facilities for people with disabilities to be listed on their directory.

Direct Enquiries will also provide an action plan to identify areas that need improvement.  These are generally simple changes that can be done at low or no cost to the business.

The directory and the corresponding action plan aims to encourage more businesses to improve their access and services, and in doing so, attract more of the UK’s disabled individuals.

In addition to the improvements in disability access (to new buildings and businesses in general); there has been an increase in the sale and manufacture of recreational vehicles and cycles for the disabled, or people with specific needs.

Inactivity is a major problem; and can compound existing health problems for people with mobility issues:

Companies such as Quest88 are now providing a range of disability aids and cycles that give disabled people a range of ways to become active.  With the success of the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics this market has seen an exponential increase over the last 3 years – improving people’s lives and boosting British manufacturing at the same time.