13-08-2014, 10:36 PM
These are guidelines and in the main they are things that organisers should have in the back of their mind anyway. It is not up to a club or an event to ensure it's venue is accessible, because the venue would have to do that to be compliant with the law.
If a disabled player was due to play in a match at Troon, what would happen? Surely, a reasonable attempt would be made to accommodate this? Playing that one match elsewhere. The thrust of the guidelines is right; In fact they merely crystallise what in generally happening at the moment anyway.
I think there are a few minor changes which would improve the guidelines, but I don't think they are going to have some radical impact on Scottish Chess.
Guideline 3 reads
"All chess venues must either be accessible to all, or an acceptable alternative venue with full supervision shall be available to those who cannot access the nominated venue."
Lets make this
All chess venues must either be accessible to all, or make all reasonable efforts to provide an acceptable alternative venue with full supervision suitable for all players unable to access the nominated venue.
Guideline 5 is a potentially a bit odd if you think about it
"No disabled player shall be penalised in accordance with the Laws of Chess because of disability."
If a player has a disability where they keep falling asleep then can they not lose on time - surely not. As far as I can see this guideline is just unnecessary.
Guideline 11 I think goes too far
"11. If a disabled player cannot press his own clock, move his own pieces, or keep score an assistant shall be available"
I don't think it is a good idea to explicitly promise to provide an assistant. This can and will happen, but putting as a specific rule/guideline might be asking for trouble. What if dyslexic players want someone to write down their games. I would prefer that organisers should
Make all reasonable efforts to provide assistance, rather than committing them to providing assistants.
If a disabled player was due to play in a match at Troon, what would happen? Surely, a reasonable attempt would be made to accommodate this? Playing that one match elsewhere. The thrust of the guidelines is right; In fact they merely crystallise what in generally happening at the moment anyway.
I think there are a few minor changes which would improve the guidelines, but I don't think they are going to have some radical impact on Scottish Chess.
Guideline 3 reads
"All chess venues must either be accessible to all, or an acceptable alternative venue with full supervision shall be available to those who cannot access the nominated venue."
Lets make this
All chess venues must either be accessible to all, or make all reasonable efforts to provide an acceptable alternative venue with full supervision suitable for all players unable to access the nominated venue.
Guideline 5 is a potentially a bit odd if you think about it
"No disabled player shall be penalised in accordance with the Laws of Chess because of disability."
If a player has a disability where they keep falling asleep then can they not lose on time - surely not. As far as I can see this guideline is just unnecessary.
Guideline 11 I think goes too far
"11. If a disabled player cannot press his own clock, move his own pieces, or keep score an assistant shall be available"
I don't think it is a good idea to explicitly promise to provide an assistant. This can and will happen, but putting as a specific rule/guideline might be asking for trouble. What if dyslexic players want someone to write down their games. I would prefer that organisers should
Make all reasonable efforts to provide assistance, rather than committing them to providing assistants.