EFFECTIVE CONSUMER POLICIES FOR DISABLED PEOPLE IN THE PRIVATE SECTOR (ESR7)

1. EFFECTIVE CONSUMER POLICIES FOR DISABLED PEOPLE IN THE PRIVATE SECTOR (ESR7) Ieva Eskyte University of Leeds

2. Article 9 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities determines.. .. State responsibilities to identify and eliminate barriers to accessibility through minimum standards and guidelines, training, assistance and support. .. Article 9.2b requires States ‘To ensure private entities that offer facilities and services which are open or provided to the public take into account all aspects of accessibility for persons with disabilities’. Ieva Eskyte (ESR7) University of Leeds, UK

3. My DREAM is.. .. not simply about legislation and mechanisms of enforcement but also about understanding what works in practice. .. to understand best practice, and how to evaluate it. .. to understand what works in facilitating private sector engagement in the provision of equal opportunities to disabled people as consumers, beyond basic compliance. Ieva Eskyte (ESR7) University of Leeds, UK

4. To achieve my DREAM it is important to find out • How do private sector providers adapt, negotiate or resist State interventions that promote or require accessibility rights? • What roles do private companies, State agencies and disabled people play in innovating and producing knowledge about what works in the private sector? • What impact do EU policies have and how does the situation compare in different European countries? Ieva Eskyte (ESR7) University of Leeds, UK

5. In my DREAM I.. .. focus on mechanisms of accessible private services and goods: • Universal design (supply) • Legal regulations: EU, national level (supply) • Non-discrimination legislation, Rights and Reasonable adjustment (demand); • Consumers’ demand (demand). .. use the following theories and approaches: The human rights approach to access to goods and services; Social justice in private market; Salutogenic approach; Capitalism; Humanitarian/ Compliance/ Citizenship/ Ecological approaches to private services and goods; Corporative responsibility; Social participation; J. Habermas’s communicative action theory. Ieva Eskyte (ESR7) University of Leeds, UK

6. In my DREAM I.. • Form 3 studies. • Use document analysis method, Focus group method, ethnographical method, photographic methodology and ‘real experience’. • Include three countries: Poland, Lithuania, UK. • Focus on non-government organisations (of disabled people; for disabled people); private sector providers (producers, sellers); policy makers (EU and national level). Ieva Eskyte (ESR7) University of Leeds, UK

7. Questions for the discussion • What are the other ways to find out what works in practice? • How to enable private sector providers, disabled people and policy makers negotiate about their needs? • How to eliminate the prevailing tension between stakeholders? • How to reach private companies? • What are the other ways to identify the different patterns of disabled people as consumers depending on disabled people’ position, private sector providers’ position, and State policy. • What did I forget?  Ieva Eskyte (ESR7) University of Leeds, UK

8. EFFECTIVE CONSUMER POLICIES FOR DISABLED PEOPLE IN THE PRIVATE SECTOR (ESR7) IevaEskyte i.eskyte@leeds.ac.uk University of Leeds