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Soundproofing, reasonable adjustments and the autism and equalities act

NAS86512

Hello everyone I need advice on whether my nephew has been discriminated against under the Equalities Act 2010 or Auitsm Act 2009 by his local council. I did ask this on another genreal forum but felt no one really replied. So have signed up here to get some specialist advice.

My nephew suffers from autism, which causes meltdowns (anger outbursts) and self-harm in relation to sensory overload from noises.
His support worker contacted the council's adult and social care team to request an occupational therapy assessment to establish if soundproofing could help reduce noise and provide a safe space to go when needed. All adaptations carried out in this council area if you are a tenant there are free and do not require an application for a disabled facilites grant. An OT called back from the council today and explained that because his needs arise from a sensory disability and not a physical one, the funding policy for the revenue budgetdoes not cover soundproofing or sensory issues.

I'm understanding that autistic people are protected under the Autism Act and the Equality Act 2010 from discrimination against their disability, regardless of whether it is physical or not.

Could anyone provide any insight as to whether this is true or if the Council has the legal right to decline an OT assessment?

A big thank you in advance to anyone who can help shed light on this situation.

  • Honestly I’m unsure what the legal position is. I am not really that familiar with the rules and housing and the caselaw around housing. One thing that’s likely to be quite key is does soundproofing count as a physical feature. Generally speaking reasonable adjustments do not extend to altering or removing physical features. At least not when it comes to let properties. However a number of things are explicitly excluded as physical features such as painting a wall or changing the door handle or putting in a special kind of tap. Or adjusting furnishings for example that’s considered not a physical feature in the context of a let property. Basically so-called chattels things that you could take in and out of the property fairly easily like a sofa are not considered physical features. So I imagine if soundproofing was of the sort that you could just easily take down off the wall and carry it out then maybe that sort of soundproofing wouldn’t count as a physical feature. In which case you might possibly be able to argue that  it counted as a form of auxiliary aid. I believe you can get soundproofing tiles that  you stick to walls and it could be taken down and moved out again maybe these wouldn’t count as a physical feature.

    it’s a tough question for 1am #notlegaladvice

  • Have you tried contacting his MP? They can be quite useful with this sort of thing even if one dislikes their political party.