Disability Discrimination Act

The DDA makes it a requirement for employers and anyone offering services to the public to ensure that they do not discriminate against any person with a disability. And that includes those with any kind of visual impairment.

As a lighting designer, this is a very difficult area to design for, as ‘visual impairment’ covers a wide spectrum of dis-ability. There can be no published guidelines for engineering a lighting solution when everyone concerned may display completely – often opposing symptoms.

Its a simple truth: light has a cost, and the more illumination that’s required, the more expensive an installation becomes. If we add into that mix the possible need for sophisticated lighting control – well, you can see where I’m going with this.

So it’s important that the project designer/architect/client liaise with the lighting designer at the earliest opportunity to establish performance criteria for the lighting installation. Who is being designed for – what eventualities need to be designed in? These are not questions that can be left until the building is finished.

Email John Bullock