NSW,
Australia — "An egregious
affront to human decency," PDCN President
Ann-Mason Furmage stated today, in response to
the deplorable reported incident at Westfield
Fountain Gate Melbourne, in which two men with
Muscular Dystrophy were forced to crawl unaided
to their vehicle rather than use 'courtesy'
wheelchairs.
"This serves as an all too common example of
the humiliating lack of dignity provided to
people with disabilities by corporate Australia
towards people with disabilities.
Service provisions should not directly or
indirectly discriminate. Dignity is not a
removable privilige. Instead it should underpin
a civilised and decent society."
Section 5 of The Disability Discrimination
Act (DDA) 1992 describes that:
A person discriminates against
another person on the ground of the
disability if, because of that person's
disability, the discriminator treats or
proposes to treat that person less favourably
than the discriminator would treat a person
without the disability.
Is this what Westfield Fountain Gate have
done?
We would hope that this reported incident
would cause a re-think of Westfield Customer
Service policy and avoid similar circumstances
in Westfield Shoppingtowns across New South
Wales and Australia.
For more information
Robyn Chapman, PDCN Executive
Officer or
Lachlan Hazelton, Media Officer on (02)
9552-1606
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