Disability provision and policy in local government archives: the contemporary picture in Wales

Abstract

Despite legislative obligations of the Equality Act 2010 to provide ‘reasonable adjustments’ for service users with disabilities, the subject of disability provision has been neglected by the research literature of the archive profession. In response, the research presented here focuses on examining how Welsh local government archives are meeting the access needs of its patrons. The impact of the Equality Act and the Archive Service Accreditation Standard 2014 on improvements in disability provision is also considered. Findings discussed provide evidence to suggest that both disability provision and awareness vary significantly between Welsh local authority archives. The results also indicate that the impact of equality legislation and professional standards is limited and inconsistent. From this, conclusions are drawn that much needs to be done to assist and encourage archives to provide equality of information access for service users. The creation of a disability policy is one way of acquiring a framework to ensure consistent and adequate reasonable adjustments are being made. The development of a disability policy at Gwent Archives offers a practical example of service improvement. To conclude, a professional drive towards consistent equality of access through specific archive accreditation criteria and awareness training is recommended.