What is disability discrimination?

Discrimination occurs when a disabled person is treated ‘less favourably’ than someone else for a reason relating to their disability. Discrimination also occurs when failure to ‘make reasonable adjustments’ in relation to a disabled person happens, and it cannot be shown that the failure is justified.

What is the definition of disability?

The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) defines a disabled person as someone who has a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on his or her ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.

It is estimated that about 20% of the adult population– around 10 million people – have rights under the Disability Discrimination Act.

Disability covers people of all ages with heart disease, diabetes, severe disfigurement, depression, schizophrenia, dyslexia, epilepsy, Down’s syndrome and many other types of impairment.

It is predicted that by 2020 over one third of the population will be over 65 years old.

What is the Disability Discrimination Act?

The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 1995 aims to end the discrimination that many disabled people face. The Act has been significantly extended, including by the Disability Discrimination Act 2005. It now gives disabled people rights in the areas of:

employment
education
access to goods, facilities and services
buying or renting land or property, including making it easier for disabled people to rent property and for tenants to make disability-related adaptations.

The Act now requires public bodies to promote equality of opportunity for disabled people. It also allows the Government to set minimum standards so that disabled people can use public transport easily.

Who does the Act cover?

mobility and dexterity impairments
sensory impairments (sight & hearing)
mental impairment including mental functioning (e.g. learning disability)
progressive conditions and recurring effects (e.g. HIV, MS, cancer)
disfigurement (severe)
those who have recovered from one of the above (e.g. depression)

The DDA provides disabled people with rights. It also places duties on employers and other service providers to make adjustments for disabled people thereby allowing them to play an equal and valuable role in society.

Guidance and codes of practice

The Government has published statutory guidance, primarily to assist adjudicating bodies like courts and tribunals in deciding whether a person is a disabled person for the purposes of the DDA.

The current 'Guidance on matters to be taken into account in determining questions relating to the definition of disability' came into in force from 1 May 2006. It replaced the original guidance, which was published in 1996 and will be relevant for cases relating to discrimination before 1 May 2006.

The Disability Rights Commission closed on 28 September 2007, but the website is still available. You can read the current guidance, the 1996 guidance and the Disability Rights Commission's codes of practice on the DDA on the Disability Rights Commission website.

The Disability Rights Commission

Legislation, codes, regulation and guidance on the DDA on the archived Disability Rights Commission website

The Equality and Human Rights Commission, which opened on 1 October 2007, has taken over the activities of the Disability Rights Commission.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission

Information on the Commission can be found here. You can contact the helpline directly:

Equality and Human Rights Commission Disability Helpline
FREEPOST MID02164
Stratford upon Avon
CV37 9BR

Telephone: 08457 622 633
Textphone: 08457 622 644

The helpline is open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday 9am-5pm; Wednesday 8am-8pm.

Fax: 08457 778 878
Email: info@equalityhumanrights.com

What is the Disability Equality Duty?

Since December 2006, there has been a legal duty on all public sector organisations to promote equality of opportunity for disabled people.

Public sector organisations include libraries, hospitals, schools and colleges,

National Health Service (NHS) trusts, police forces central and local government.

The Disability Equality Duty (DED) covers the full range of what public sector organisations do – including policymaking and services that are delivered to the public.

People who work in the public sector have to consider the impact of their work on disabled people, and take action to tackle disability inequality. This should mean that disabled people have better employment opportunities and do not come across discrimination when, for example, using a service. It should also help promote positive attitudes towards disabled people in everyday life.

Since 4 December 2006, significant public authorities have had to publish a 'Disability Equality Scheme'. The date for primary schools in England was December 2007, and for all schools in Wales it was April 2007. The scheme must include:

A statement of how disabled people have been involved in developing the scheme.
An action plan that includes practical ways in which improvements will be made.
The arrangements in place for gathering information about how the public sector organisation has done in meeting its targets on disability equality.

A year after the publication of the scheme, an annual report needs to be produced. It should contain a summary of the steps the organisation has taken to fulfil the duty, the results of the information-gathering exercise, and how the information has been used.

Finding out more about the Disability Equality Duty

The Disability Rights Commission was responsible for the enforcement of the Disability Equality Duty until it closed on 28 September 2007.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission now has responsibility for enforcing the Disability Equality Duty and they can take legal action against public sector organisations that have not done as they are required.

You can find information about the Equality and Human Rights Commission's approach to enforcement, and the impact the duty is already having, on their website. There is also a dedicated website which contains guidance documents in various formats.