Soundproofing, reasonable adjustments and the autism and equalities act

If it’s dealing with a leftist controlled council that engages in political policing in that area in order to score political points against thier tenants it’s something that I have had personal experience with and where they use the law to their advantage - better off just buying a pair of noise cancelling headphones, as otherwise you are just wasting your time, as the council and the police in these areas will simply come after you for raising the issue or making the complaint which they will force you to drop under threats of arrest, as they will regard the complaints as libellous, defamatory, and slanderous  

It’s far more a case of council and other officials refusing to understand, as a way of scoring political points for thier higher ups - it goes way beyond simply being clueless or not caring 

If you are dealing with a leftist controlled council, you are wasting your time - in these areas with dealing with neighbour noise nuisance issues, there is political policing of these areas - if you try to make a complaint, legal action will be taken against you on the basis that the complaint is frivolous, libellous and/or slanderous and the police will become involved, with threats of arrest to force you to drop the complaint - since Covid, I’ve heard that this has become much worse, although my own experiences happened long before Covid and before my diagnosis 

In my long experience in dealing with the council on many noise and ASB issues long before my autism diagnosis long before Covid, you are simply wasting your time, as not only will the council try to tell you that your perception of excessive noise pollution and nuisance is deemed to be wrong in thier opinion, they will even try to take legal action against you for raising the issue and for making the complaint, on the grounds that the complaint is frivolous, libellous and slanderous (this is a particular problem with Leftist/Labour controlled councils) - save yourself the hassle and bother and just buy yourself a pair of noise cancelling headphones, as you will get nowhere with the council - and if you try to push it, they will involve the police to threaten you with arrest and to force you to drop the case, because if this happens, you will get nowhere in court - this has been my own personal experience 

How about aplying for removable office pods or booths, from disability facility grants as they are sound proof offices with weels, I'm thinking of doing that as I live in a council flat. Guys can you please give me feedback on this thanks. 

The current legislation relating to disability in general and autism in particular is woefully weak and inadequate and needs massive reforms and improvements - but a key part of this must include and provide for much greater legal and professional penalties and sanctions against care providers who do not take their duty of care responsibilities sufficiently seriously in order to drive the culture of responsibility right down to individual level - campaigns need to be launched now to have this legislation reviewed with a view to amending and adding to existing legislation, as a key part of creating a society that works better for autistic people and to ensure that we get the support that we need and that failure to do so will result in serious consequences all round, both directly and indirectly, not just to us, but to the rest of society 

Maybe your Council need persuading, typically, they are seeking fob you off. Perhaps you should point out to the Council that autism is not a mental disability, it is a physical disability of the mind. 

okay thankyou I hadn't thought of that, I will see if I can try and do something similar.

Hello,

I too am in social housing and made an application via my GP to see a Occupational Therapist who came out to see what the noise issues were and also helped with a heating issue. I hope you are able to access such support. 

Hi LucyLandrover, I am hoping to get some help with this also as I live right next to a busy office and can hear every conversation detail and door slam all day long just sitting in any room in my property even if it's a room not attached to the office.  How did you start to apply for an assessment?  I'm in social housing if that makes any difference to how I go about applying and to whom...thank you in advance

Hello,

I too live in a bungalow and am having issues with noise. I have just gone through an assessment for a DFG so am waiting to hear back. I am hoping to have sound proofing fitted to both my bedroom and living room due to noise from a anti social neighbor. I wear ear defenders when out but should not have to wear them at home.  

i think they mean semi-dettached... my parents have a bungalow that is attached to another bungalow at the side... just 1 not terraced. so semi-dettached bungalow.

NAS86512 said:

sensory disability and not a physical one,

eesh... but sensory can be physical too though cant it?

if you had sensory issue related to the sense of touch that is a example of sensory being physical.

hearing is physical too though.... sound assaulting you is physical and can feel physical. sound waves actually can be felt and i myself feel the thud vibration of thunder when it sounds, i describe it like a mini earthquake feeling of vibrational waves.

this only goes to show that officials still are clueless on any issues like this. sensory is physical, just they cant sense it that way themselves while the people with it can sense it physically in most occasions so it is physical to them.

Wait a minute. A bungalow is a one level detached building. So is the noise coming from outside the building?

Anyway I think the reason for excluding physical alterations was to stop landlords being forced to put in ramps and lifts in buildings that require physical disabled access.

if a noise is coming from outside the bungalow must be of unusually flimsy construction. That or the neighbours must be unusually noisy. If it’s a building I have to wonder if maybe something as simple as erecting a fence or hedge might be helpful. Maybe the council could be persuaded to agree to that.

on the other hand if it’s the neighbours maybe this is really a police matter to do with noise pollution.

try contacting your local law clinic it should be free 

Do consider contacting the MP as not just a last resort, it's not just about trying to get the law changed, they can provide actual concrete help navigating the system. I contacted mine when trying to apply for PIP and they wanted me to go to an unsuitable place for the assessment, he helped us to get it sorted for a home visit.

@NAS91091 Ah right, maybe we would ask for a DFG grant if we got an assessment.

@Autriker Thanks for the suggestion, which we may do as a last resort.

@Peter Yes, the council bungalow was given to him based on his autism. But noise is still getting through. Yes, it's a shame that reasonable adjustments do not extend to altering or removing physical features. Some disabled people who need adjusting are still disadvantaged because the EQ 2010 doesn't seem to give them the same rights as someone who needs a non-permanent adjustment in housing. Which I feel is direct discrmination yet the act was brought in to stop this and treat all disabled people the same no matter what. His noise sensitiy is on the extreme side and can lead to violence against other people who are making noise etc.

@Glitter I was hoping ANC headphones might work. I have had all the models from the Sony MX line myself, and the improvements in dB reduction in each newer model are not very progressive. His dream is when a new ANC model will come out that blocks loud speech down to 80 percent with no music playing. Thansk for your suggestion about my bad wording above its been noted.

Maybe you could buy him a good pair of noise cancelling head phones or noise reduction ear buds, then he could put them on when needed and be protected wherever he went.

And just as an aside, a lot of autistic people find the phrase "suffers with autism" to be offensive.  We suffer because society does not understand our needs and our way of communicating, not because we're autistic. 

The OT itself is a service so covered by a different part of the act. But if it was just a private landlord you could request soundproofing tiles for the walls and soundproofing matting for the floors as an auxiliary aid and there  wouldn’t have to be an OT in order to look at whether or not that was reasonable or not. The landlord would have to come to their own decision about whether or not that was reasonable or not and if you don’t like that you would have to take them to court and the court would have to come to its own decision about whether or not that was reasonable and not.The landlord would have to come to their own decision about whether or not that was reasonable or not and if you don’t like that you would have to take them to court and the court would have to come to its own decision about whether or not that was reasonable or not.

basically you could just write to the council and say we want removable non-physical feature non-incorporated into the wall soundproofing and if they say no you would just have to take them to court it wouldn’t be a question of whether or not an OT had been done.

#notlegaladvice

actually you say he’s a tenant of a council and a council property but is the council property being provided to him as a public service is he been given it for free effectively because he is considered a high risk or something like that in which case a different set of rules might apply?