subject: Having Access To Goods And Services [print this page] Whether you are disabled or disfigured, whenever you wish to buy goods or to employ the services of a company, you are to be considered a consumer with basic rights. There is no law that should prevent a disabled person from the services he wishes to access.
As a company that provides basic services and commodities to consumers, discriminating against disabled persons might be the last thing you would want to do. Disabled people are also protected by rights that prevent them from being discriminated by any company that offers their services to anyone. Hotels, building and architecture, schools, the police, banks, air planes, theaters and opera houses, movie houses, the church, hospitals, courts of law and public transportation.
If a company is found to be discriminate against a disabled person by offering them sub-standard services or goods or providing services not up to par with what they are advertising, then they can be sued for by the disabled person. If a handicapped person is in need of a wheelchair while traveling, the airplane should be ready to provide one as well as they should be expected to have one ready. If a hotel refuses to service a mute and deaf man because no one understands sign language, that itself is discrimination. The hotel should be service ready to provide and adjust to anyone.
If a company wishes to exclude the disabled people from their roster of clients, they need to provide a good and valid reason why they cannot do so. If they cannot, the company is then required to perform the task and demonstrate that they are not equipped or trained to handle the situation involving the disabled person.
Needless to say, if a disabled individual is discriminated from the service by his own company is much worse than that of the regular consumer. The disabled person when availing of the service or goods of the company, becomes a costumer first and an employee second. The company should provide the goods requested, and if they refuse, they need to give a justifiable reason. If not, it becomes discrimination by disability and discrimination as a costumer.
