Not because there is nothing in place for people with disabilities, rather the row centres on who is, or should be, trained in the use of a special chair to bring disabled users down from the top floor in an emergency.

Disabled activist Kenny Shand, who has set about righting a number of perceived wrongs against the disabled in Moray – and further afield – is a regular attender at the recently formed Local Neighbourhood Forum meetings, which are held on the first floor of the Community Centre. He pointed out that in the absence of fireproof wiring in the centre's lift, there was nothing in place to evacuate disabled people should they venture to the top floor of the building, and Moray Council agreed to provide an EVAC chair.

This piece of equipment costs around £650 to buy and requires specially trained operators before it can be used. Four of Mr Shand's colleagues on the Neighbourhood Forum have been trained on the EVAC chair, but to date, none of the community centre staff have done so.

Neighbourhood Forum members think this is a disgrace, while Moray Council say that training for centre staff will be given at some time.

According to the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, it is unlawful for a disabled person to be discriminated against in a number of ways, including access to facilities and services.

In this instance, discrimination means treating a disabled person less favourably than someone who is not disabled or where a physical feature makes it either unreasonably difficult or impossible for a disabled person to access a service available to the public. In such cases, the provider must alter the feature or provide a reasonable means of avoiding the feature.

Forres House Community Centre has provided an EVAC chair, so surely it is perfectly reasonable to expect them to train staff to operate it in emergencies.

It appears that centre staff have concerns about the health and safety aspect of using the chair, and that, too, is perfectly reasonable. However, there appears to be a certain tardiness in addressing this problem, either by the centre staff or by Moray Council.

It seems that the Neighbourhood Forum have a case.

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