When restaurant staff broke Equality Law by refusing to provide enough light for Zehanne Kenny to read the menu two years ago, she decided to take legal action.

The issue

I am partially sighted and have always found it difficult to find restaurants with enough lighting for me to be able to read the menu. So I was delighted to find a place that seemed ideal, Sufi’s Café, on St Stephen’s Green in Dublin, and I soon became a regular customer. Sufi’s had a dimmer switch arrangement which allowed a section of the seating area to be brightened up on request. Once I had explained to the management about my poor eyesight, they had been happy to oblige.

One night, all this changed. I went into Sufi’s Café and asked for the lighting dimmer to be altered and was told, “No, other customers have been complaining”. I responded: “Okay, that’s fine, but could you just put a small lamp on the table for me please?” I was shocked by the response: “No! We don’t have lamps and we checked the legal position, we don’t have to cater for your needs.”

I explained that, under the Equal Status Act, they did in fact have to do all that was reasonable to cater for my needs, or those of any disabled customer. The waiter responded with “Write to the owner!”, So I said, “I’ve a better idea – I’ll bring the matter before the Equality Tribunal!”

The action

I went to the Equality Tribunal website first, and that gave me information on the procedure I had to follow. One month after setting the wheels in motion, Sufi’s and I agreed to mediation. Although this mediation worked, Sufi’s’ failed to keep to it, and this meant the case had to be assigned to an Equality Officer for judgement.

It takes up to three years before your case comes up. Finally, the date of the case hearing arrived and I went to the Tribunal’s offices, in Clonmel Street, Dublin, accompanied by my advocate. No one from Sufi’s turned up, but The Equality Officer decided to go ahead and hear my evidence. I then had to wait a few weeks for the judgement to be given”.

The outcome

“A few weeks later, a letter stating that the judgement was givn in my favour arrived – Sufi’s were to pay me €250 and to ensure their staff received training in disability awareness.

However, many weeks passed (well over the 40 days allowed for the losing side to appeal the case) and nothing happened. I phoned the Tribunal and was told that they only make judgements, they don’t enforce them. It was never about money, it was the principle – Sufi’s blatantly broke the law and thought nothing of it, so I felt I had to keep fighting.

“I began the process of taking them to the circuit court. The day before I was due to meet a lawyer and make an affidavit, a letter arrived from the Equality Tribunal enclosing a cheque from Sufi’s for €250.

Reflections

“I learnt that the Equality Tribunal is not fully effective. A body that cannot enforce judgements seems pretty limited. It’s not enough to just take a case and let it run its course, you (we – the entire disabled community) need to be prepared to follow it through.

“Rather then being discouraged, this entire episode has convinced me that work needs to be done by everyone who is dissatisfied with the ‘inclusion in theory but exclusion in practice’ ethos which prevails”.

Zehanne Kenny is a Research Assistant in the English Department at Trinity College, Dublin.