B1 – Bingo: Denial and Gaslighting

Denial that discrimination happened

Organisations will often claim the access failing you are complaining about never happened. This sometimes works, because many people feel it is their word against the organisation’s, and are likely to give up and go away.

To prepare for this, we recommend following the advice on our ‘gathering evidence’ webpage. Some failings, such as lack of ramp access into a building, can be proven at another time. If you couldn’t capture evidence at the time, you may wish to consider making a second attempt at access while audio or video recording everything.

Other failings, like refusal of access to a taxi with a guide dog, may be harder to prove without evidence, but still worth pursuing. Consider the ‘data protection’ page advice in case the organisation holds evidence you could use. You may also make your complaint, so it is on record, so a repeat incident can also be reported and linked to the first one – as the earlier report (even if denied) may still support a later case.

The denial may also happen because someone else’s word is taken over yours. It is always worth challenging this kind of denial and asking why the other person is being believed over you. Being an employee of the organisation does not make them automatically more trustworthy.


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