On a parrallel thread we were discussing throttles and EN15194.
If a rider is disabled enough to need considerable use of the throttle to ride the bike,would it be a good idea that ebikes with throttles are available for registered disabled riders,supported by government grants and vat free,included in the governments Motability scheme?
Or does that happen already?
Dave
Kudoscycles
Dave it would be a great idea. I’m certain there are plenty of people with disabilities who would benefit, many of whom probably don’t even know of the existence of ebikes.
So I hate to pour cold water on the idea but I suspect you could be heading into as big a can of worms as the debate over throttles and EN15194.
The notion of people being “registered disabled” is problematic for a start. No such register really exists. Local authorities have a legal duty to maintain a 'register' of people who have a 'physical disability', defined under Section 29 of the National Assistance Act 1948 as:
'……persons who are substantially and permanently handicapped by illness, injury, or congenital deformity.'
But in practice the 'register' has become obsolete, a bureaucratic requirement that is of no benefit to anyone. It supposedly enables local authorities to know who in their area might benefit from services and provides estimates of the numbers of disabled people locally and what impairments they have. But registration is not compulsory. It confers few rights or benefits and many disabled people object to it. So in practice councils meet their duty by holding a computerised record of people who have been seen by them and recorded as having a 'physical disability'.
As Muckymitts says
"And how do you define disability? HMG cant make their mind up. "
Would you use the aforementioned definition from the National Assistance Act 1948?
or the one in Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970? (used for items with VAT relief for disabled people)
or the one in the Equality Act 2010 (with 50+ pages of guidance on the definition alone)?
Or perhaps you would use qualification for Attendance Allowance or the Disability Living Allowance....?
And having defined disability, how would you determine if they were
disabled enough to need
considerable use of the throttle? Another role for Atos?
As legislation stands disabled people cannot get ebikes under the Motability scheme and ebikes don’t qualify for zero rating (Notice 701/7 VAT Reliefs for disabled people August 2002) because, generally speaking, goods have to be specifically designed for the sole use of disabled people.