In essence, a DDA access audit or disability / DDA assessment maps a journey through your business, as taken by a disabled person, for example someone with a mobility or sensory impairment.

A disability access assessment or DDA audit examines the accessibility of your service, identifies barriers, measures usability and provides options for improvement. An access audit also takes into account the nature of your business and your budget, whilst looking at all aspects of the environment, property and service.

A disability access audit or DDA assessment is the most effective way to establish the impact that a building has on disabled people. It is also the best way to ensure that you are aware of all of your duties and responsibilities under the DDA. It looks at all aspects of your service and provides a detailed guide in relation to both strengths and weakness’ – it is an incredibly cost effective long term tool when looking at what reasonable adjustments you can make to your service.

Each DDA or disability access audit undertaken by Inclusion is tailor made for each individual client we work with, however they will usually contain the following components :

• An audit will involve an initial meeting or discussion in order for us to tailor our service to meet your specific requirements with regard to the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA).
• We then review your building plans and/or walk through your company looking at and measuring the usability of all aspects of the environment, property and service.
• Finally, we provide a full access audit report and summary detailing strengths, weaknesses and options for improvement accompanied by ongoing question and answer sessions as required.
• All of our access audits will include a summary guide to the DDA along with a copy of our guide to accessibility.
• Our reports will be provided in both word and hard copies and will also contain a summary report for quick reference.
• For those on a tight budget we offer a ‘walk and talk’ service. This is a brief walk through your service highlighting issues and solutions, resulting in a short summary.

By adopting an inclusive design philosophy you benefit from improved customer and staff satisfaction and loyalty; increased sales; and greater profitability. A DDA or disability access audit is an essential starting point when looking at creating yor access plan or strategy.

Inclusion offer a wide range of DDA access audit and DDA assessment services as well as a new line of DDA access equipment and DDA training packages. We are able to provide DDA audits and DDA assessments throughout the UK and are based in Kent, London, Surrey, Sussex and the South East. Contact Inclusion here for further details on how our access auditing services can help you…….