A duty to promote equality--not a new approach, but a new way of thinking? Deborah Peel looks at the implications for land use planning of the emerging duty on all public sector authorities to promote disability equality, enshrined in the Disability Discrimination Act 2005.

THE GOVERNMENT has asserted that it wants disabled people to have full opportunities and choices to improve their quality of life and be respected and included as equal members of society by 2025. This forms part of its political ambitions for an 'opportunity society'. (1) As part of this thinking,

Much of the current impetus for change stems from the Disability Rights Task Force, which was set up in 1997 with a remit to recommend how best to secure 'comprehensive and enforceable civil rights for disabled people'. (3) The ensuing catalogue of wide-reaching recommendations encompasses education, travel, local government, health and social services, and participation in public life, as well as aspects of the environment and housing arena.

The commitment to improving the life chances of disabled people is thus clearly acknowledged as extending beyond issues of mobility, to encompass a greater sensitivity to, and awareness of, how accessibility issues can be promoted through a relatively more strategic approach to public policy-making. Indeed, the importance of the role of public sector services in taking 'a lead in promoting the equalisation of opportunities for disabled people' was clearly articulated by the Disability Rights Task Force in 1999. (4) Its recommendation to turn this aspiration into a statutory duty will come into force in December 2006 through the 'disability equality duty', and this duty will demand creative thinking on the part of the planning profession, among others. (5)

However, concern about a 'culture of complacency' and a lack of understanding by the public sector about the new duty has been expressed by the Disability Rights Commission. (6) Certainly imagination, commitment, leadership and appropriate resourcing are necessary if the new duty is to deliver on its expectations.

Promoting a culture of inclusivity

The commitment to breaking down barriers and facilitating access in the built environment has been identified as particularly critical in the context of the planning and development process. (7) For example, it has been argued that fostering flexible and friendly environments can benefit society's diversity of users in a range of ways--here the needs of older people usefully illustrate the point. (8) Such an ethos of inclusion may be considered particularly timely, given changing demographic patterns, but it is also integral to a wider social commitment to facilitate inclusive environments that can be used by all, 'regardless of age, gender or disability'. (9)