Disability Access and the Premises Standards

About this course.

The legal framework for disability access rests on two connected pieces of Commonwealth law: the Disability Discrimination Act, which makes it unlawful to discriminate against a person on the ground of disability across many areas of public life including access to premises; and the Disability (Access to Premises — Buildings) Standards — the Premises Standards — which are made under that Act and set out, in practical terms, how buildings are to be designed and constructed to be accessible. In short, the Act establishes the right not to be discriminated against, and the Premises Standards translate that right into concrete requirements for buildings, so that designing an accessible building is both good practice and a way of meeting a legal obligation.

To understand this framework, start with the purpose of the Disability Discrimination Act. It is a Commonwealth law that recognises that people with disability have historically been excluded from many aspects of society and seeks to eliminate, as far as possible, discrimination against them. It makes discrimination on the ground of disability unlawful in a wide range of areas — including employment, education, the provision of goods and services, and access to premises that the public may enter or use. In relation to buildings, the Act's concern is that a person with disability should be able to get to, enter and use premises that are open to the public or where people work, rather than being shut out by steps, narrow doors, inaccessible toilets and other barriers.