A blind Perth-based lawyer is set to drag the might of global financial giant American Express into court after the company changed their online statements making it impossible for him to read them online. Richard Godfrey-McKay speaks to The Firm and outlines his own personal credit crunch.

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One man whose name entered the public arena prominently during April was Perth-based solicitor Richard Godfrey-McKay, and it is likely you’ll be hearing a lot more of the campaigning lawyer whose appetite for fighting injustice has been well and truly whetted.

The blind solicitor made headlines when it emerged he was taking legal action against American Express, who had changed the format of their online statements, which cannot be read by special software used by the visually impaired.

Not only is Godfrey-McKay taking on the corporate financial giants, but he also told The Firm he is quite prepared to act as a beacon to highlight similar instances where companies and institutions are failing to take active steps to aid the impaired.

“The whole point these companies seem to miss is that they understand they have to make a reasonable adjustment; they all know how to make adjustments for service users who are disabled, but they don’t seem to understand they have an anticipatory duty under guidance issued by the Disability Rights Commission to anticipate the needs of disabled service users. They don’t get that,” Godfrey-McKay told The Firm.

The Disability Discrimination Act states that companies must make “reasonable adjustments” to make sure their services are accessible to everyone.

“It is no good to say they never thought about it and then try and do something about it and fix the problem later on. American Express has always spoken a good line and said they viewed it very seriously and would be back to me in a couple of weeks.  That was the middle of December – I’m still waiting.”

The English qualified solicitor is determined to make the point all the way through the courts if necessary, to ensure that sufficient attention is paid to the rights of those with physical impairments, whose entitlements under the anti discrimination legislation may have been overlooked by bad practice, cost efficiency or simple thoughtlessness. What should be the first, proactive duty of any organisation is being forgotten, he says, and he aims to use his action to remind the wider world that impairment needs must be factored into practice.

“There is an advantage in establishing a precedent; it might make other laggards in the sector sit up, take notice and put their house in order, if they don’t want the publicity American Express are going to get,” he said.

“At the end of this episode I want American Express to realise that they shouldn’t have done it and for others to be clear that if they don’t play the game they’ll face the same fate; I’ll take them to court.”

Godfrey-McKay will be a man to watch in the future. In addition to pursuing American Express, he seems determined to maintain his campaigning stance. He is a man who puts his principles to the forefront of his decision making and men such as he, whether in the legal field or elsewhere, act as a lightning rod for similarly minded campaigners when they have right on their side.  Time often proves such people morally right, regardless of the immediate practical outcome. But did anyone actually believe a blind man would need to raise an action such as this in 2008 at all?

“People have said to me I should just go somewhere else, but I don’t think that is the point. The point is that blind people should have exactly the same choices as anyone else to do exactly what they want, when they want. It is a point of principle. I’m a commercial property man myself, but I do feel if I see injustice being done, I have to go for it.”

That’ll do nicely, sir.