From 1 October 2004, new provisions of the Disability Discrimination Act become law. The Housing Corporation has responded to this legislative responsibility in a proactive way. There has been a small project group looking at the requirements of the legislation and then beyond it to develop good practice further. We do not want to just do the minimum but continue to demonstrate our desire to be a leading organisation in all areas of equality and diversity. To keep everyone informed, below is a list of the services put in place over the last few months.

Corporate

• A project team has been developed to continue to assess and improve our Corporate services against the needs of people with a disability, both internally and externally.
• A Staff with a Disability Group has been developed to assist the Corporation and also to support the individual members of the group
• The home page of the Corporation's website meets the required standard of the DDA legislation, which includes being able to change the site's colours and type size and being readable by screen readers. The site is being redeveloped to confirm that all other pages also meet this standard.
• All external publications contain a statement which offers the service of translations, large print, audio and Braille
• Our recruitment pack and process has been diversity checked and will be monitored, to achieve a fully accessible service.

• All Corporation offices have been had a full access audit, and where needed the landlords have been contacted to improve access.
• A national text phone number to contact the Corporation will be available for all people with a hearing disability from 1 October.
• Main meeting rooms are in the process of being fitted with induction loops, a service which helps hearing aid users to fully participate in meetings.
• Fire regulation and Health and Safety checks have been made to provide safety for all.

• A named person has been identified in HR who is undertaking detailed training and disability awareness briefings so they can assist all staff with a disability. All staff who have identified as having a disability will be contacted soon to check they have all the support they need.
• A named person in IT has been identified to support all staff with a disability to have full access to the system.
• A detailed leaflet for all existing staff and new staff with a disability is being drafted, so everyone knows what support is available both internally and externally.