Why was the scheme created?

Why was the scheme created?

BuDS is an organisation of disabled people, and we know the difficulties and barriers that disabled people can face while out in the community. Although the law requires shops, services, and organisations to change how they do things to allow disabled people the same access as non-disabled people, disabled people often find it difficult to claim these “reasonable adjustments”. Also, many shops, services, and organisations find it difficult to know how to help disabled people.

The Covid-19 pandemic has made life even more difficult for many disabled people. The public health precautions needed to help stop the spread of the virus often do not take into account the needs of disabled people.

The Fair4All Card helps disabled people claim the reasonable adjustments that they are entitled to under the Equality Act 2010, and the exemptions from the Covid Regulations.

The Fair4All Card is completely different from the sunflower lanyard and other similar schemes used by some shops and other public places. These schemes have no application checks and so can be and are widely abused by non-disabled people. The Fair4All Card will only be issued to disabled people after a thorough application process.

What Makes the Fair4All Card Different?

There are lots of identification schemes for disabled people, such as the sunflower lanyard, “disabled identification card”, “autism card”, and several phone apps. There are many potential disadvantages to these schemes and the Fair4All Card has been created to overcome these disadvantages.

These are the potential disadvantages to other schemes:

• They may only help disabled people in certain places e.g. airports.
• They may only be open to disabled people with a particular impairment e.g. autism or sight loss.
• They may not have any application process to check if the applicant is disabled.
• They may be designed mainly to help disabled people claim financial discounts at places like theme parks, cinemas, music venues, and tourism attractions, and not to help them in everyday places with everyday needs.
• They may rely on disabled people receiving a DWP benefit to qualify.
• They may disclose private health information.
• They may rely on a complicated system of symbols or codes, or need staff to be highly trained.
• They may rely on the disabled person contacting places before they visit.
• They may not be able to communicate disabled people’s individual needs.
• They may rely on disabled people having a smartphone and being able to use a phone app.

Only the Fair4All Card has none of these disadvantages:

• The Fair4All Card can be used everywhere – it sets out how best to help disabled people everywhere they go.
• The Fair4All Card is open to all disabled people, whatever their age, impairment or condition.
• The Fair4All Card is only issued to people who meet the legal definition of a disabled person and this is stated on the Card.
• The Fair4All Card is not designed to help people prove their eligibility for financial discounts but an increasing number of places do recognise it for this purpose.
• The Fair4All Card does not rely on disabled people receiving a DWP benefit to qualify and instead accepts a wide range of evidence.
• The Fair4All Card does not disclose a person’s disability or private health information.
• The Fair4All Card includes simple statements explaining how best to help someone which can be used by anyone in any place.
• The Fair4All Card can be used when a disabled person visits a place if they want to use it.
• The Fair4All Card uses tailored statements to match disabled people’s individual needs.
• The Fair4All Card does not rely on disabled people having a smartphone and being able to use a phone app.

Sadly, many disabled identification schemes are widely abused by non-disabled people and this means that shops, services, and organisations are often reluctant to recognise them. Because the Fair4All Card focuses on the help and adjustments that disabled people are legally entitled to, shops, services, and organisations have no choice but to recognise it.

Fair4All Card Scheme Features

Each card has photo identification of the person to reduce the risk of the card being abused or used by someone else.

It also has a credible and efficient complaints program that means that disabled people who are denied support feel able to challenge discrimination. This means that service providers can also report anyone abusing a card.