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.

bungalows will have nice thick walls anyway to be fair. so yeah its mainly the windows with them..

my parents live in bungalow, i moved out of there this year into my own flat and now that i can compare from my flat to their bungalow then yeah... the bungalows walls are around 3 times thicker than my flat walls lol....and sound proofing could be done on my flat because my flat walls are thin. on the bungalow it doesnt matter as the bungalow walls are super thick in comparison. but to get that soundproofing on my flat to the level of a bungalow id need to add alot of mass to the walls and it would be unfeasible on appearance and space loss..... plus the foam acoustic pannels are not actually sound blockers, but rather a thing that keep the sound inside your own flat and bounce it around in your own room.... and right now my loud noisy neighbours are playing something thats making a irritating humming noise reverberating through my flat lol dont like my neighbour, they put their washing machine on at 12 midnight to 2am in the morning and always are scraping against the walls for some reason seemingly on purpose to make noise. sounds like they shout through the cavity of the wall too at times.

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.

Unless there are air pockets in the plastic I’d guess it won’t do much. Depends on thickness of course.

If it doesn't work then why do recording studios use it? That's ridiculous.

Is there a reason his bedroom has to be at the front?

We've found some cheap polycarbonate sheets for a secondary glazing effect not sure how effective they will be at blocking noise. But atleast it's a reasonable request in money terms compared to triple glazing.www.secondarydiyglazing.com/.../

@Peter Yes, it's mainly sudden impact noises he really doesn't like, such as car doors slamming outside, Food shooping deliveries and the bins are the worst. He is still getting used to having his bedroom at the front. After a long discussion, we were thinking of making a new request for acoustic panels for the walls and ceilings to help dampen sudden noises coming in from outside. And some 4mm polycarbonate sheets for the windows as an alternative to expensive triple glazing, as suggested below. Now, with these requests above, the Council, by law under the EQ 2010, should have to provide them as they are temporary changes and not permanent ones and can easily be removed. We feel this is a very reasonable request, not only in terms of price compared to more expensive soundproofing systems. but again, it doesn't permanently alter the structure of the building. I'm really trying to fight this not only for him but to make the council realise they can't neglect sensory issues and have a duty under the EQ to provide the changes, or we will be taking this to the courts. The OT at the council was very anti-soundproofing, saying she believes it doesn't work, which was disappointing. We were not trying to completely block the noise, just dampen it somewhat, and we will explain this next week on the phone.

a terraced bungalow? I didn't think the term was used that way.