Disability Discrimination by a voluntary society.

Disability Discrimination by a voluntary society.

Yesterday I experienced direct discrimination based on my disability. It was carried out by people tasked with running a hobby gaming club with a stated policy of "inclusivity" I raised some legitimate questions about how their mandatory requirement to wear a face covering along with other restrictions on attending future meetings was illegal because it broke The Equalities Act and was direct discrimination. I was told that it wasn't up for discussion, it was irrelevant what I thought even after I pointed out that the Statutory Instrument for Face Coverings made specific mention that people may be exempt from the requirement to wear a face covering in licenced premises for a number of reasons.

When I pointed out the following to other club officers "It upset me that an self proclaimed inclusive gaming club could so casually dismiss the concerns of a disabled person like this. I still don't like the decision as it reinforces the belief that disabled people are somehow 2nd class citizens who are already marginalised in society and suffer much higher barriers to participation in normal activities." they decided to remove me from their social media presence and refused to discuss how they could make reasonable adjustments to their policy.

When I approached another committee member he responded with this. "By relaxing the mask request [sic] we would be discriminating against several vulnerable or anxious attendees. We've lost 8 regulars of the venue already to Covid. As Spock said, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. I can sympathise with your situation, and wish it wasn't the case, but it is for now."

This is a clear example of how institutional discrimination operates against marginalised members of society. The fact I pointed out to them that I had been fully vaccinated for Covid-19 since 18th April 2021 made no difference. If it can happen to me it can happen to anyone else.

I have not named the club because I had hoped that they might see the error of their ways but today it was confirmed that none of the club "Council" were prepared to discuss it any further and I was not welcome to attend there in future. So inclusivity only applied if they think your are worthy of consideration.

Apparently I could sue them under the Disability Discrimination Act for compensation in the county court because they refused to even consider making adjustments for me, which is Direct Discrimination and introduced a blanket policy that affected a protected group disproportionately, which is Indirect Discrimination, but that won't change their attitude and certainly won't make me anymore welcome to attend there. Being a voluntary non-profit club it would only destroy them by forcing them into insolvency after the bailiffs took all their assets.

So HATE and bigotry has won out - again