The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) was necessary in order to:
This law was not the full Bill of Civil Rights which disabled people wanted, but it has gone some way to improving the lives of disabled people, and it is in your interest to know what obligations it places on you and your organisation.
This chapter can only provide a brief overview of some parts of the act. If you require any further information visit the Equality and Human Rights Commission website, or ring their helpline 0845 604 8810.
The DDA is only intended to prevent discrimination happening to "some of those who are (or in some cases were) disabled people". To use the Act you must first prove that you meet the criteria for protection under it.
The DDA defines disability as:
"A physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on a person's ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities".
Under the DDA, the term 'Physical impairment' includes sensory and mobility impairment, and conditions such as cancer, HIV and AIDS. 'Mental impairment' covers the whole range of learning, psychiatric and psychological disability.
To be regarded as a disabled person under the DDA, an impairment must have a substantial and long-term adverse effect.
"an impairment that limits, prevents, restricts or otherwise hampers their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities."
A normal day-to-day activity is one that is normal for most people and carried out by most people on a daily or frequent and fairly regular basis.
A disabled person only has protection under the DDA if their impairment can be proven to affect one or more of the following:
"substantial" adverse effect is one that is "more than minor or trivial", going beyond the usual differences in ability that exist between people.
An adverse effect is "long-term" if it:
Also covered by the DDA are people who:
Not covered are:
The DDA exists to ensure disabled people are treated fairly when seeking or retaining employment.
This part of the Act applies to any organisation employing staff, irrespective of how many people are employed.
The employment provisions in the DDA require an employer to consider the needs of a prospective or current employee, so what is put in place is focused on individual requirements, rather than on developing inclusive policies and general good practice.
All employers now have a duty not to discriminate against a disabled person inÉ
If a disabled person applies for a job or an employee becomes disabled, an employer must consider making reasonable adjustments to the workplace or conditions of employment. Such adjustments might include:
Discrimination occurs when a disabled person is treated less favourably than someone else... unless that treatment can be justified.
Less favourable treatment can be justified if the employer has a "relevant and substantial reason" which cannot be "overcome or made less substantial by making a reasonable adjustment".
It is the responsibility of the employer to decide if measures are...
Unlike the employment provisions of the DDA, a service provider has a duty to be proactive. They should not wait for a situation to arise but anticipate a disabled person's possible needs.
The duty to comply with the DDA applies equally to all service providers, irrespective of...
Just about anything you can think of that is offered as a service to the public. Including...
"it is unlawful for a provider of services to discriminate by..."
EXAMPLE: If a workshop is being held in an inaccessible upstairs room, and the company refuses to change the location to an accessible downstairs room so that disabled people can participate, this may be found unlawful, unless the company can give good reasons why the change could not be made.
There are three categories of less favourable treatment:
EXAMPLE: A customer phones a company and requests a brochure in large print. The brochure eventually arrives too late to be of any use. The customer requests that the large print brochure is sent automatically with each mailout, but the standard brochure is sent instead, meaning that the customer has to phone and request an accessible format every time. This could be considered less favourable treatment.
The cornerstone of the act is the duty to make reasonable adjustments in order to include disabled people. It is not enough to avoid treating disabled people less favourably, or even to "treat everyone the same". Service providers must anticipate the requirements of both current and prospective service users, and make adjustments to accommodate them.
There are three categories of reasonable adjustments:
Service providers must ensure that any existing or future policy, practice or procedure does not cause illegal or avoidable disadvantage to disabled people. All policy - not just that directly related to disabled people, must be scrutinised.
EXAMPLE: A 'no-dogs' policy could exclude owners of assistance dogs (dogs which work for blind, deaf or disabled people)
Service providers must find out what aids and equipment might be required to enable a disabled person to use a service. Staff should be trained in using such equipment and be given disability equality training.
Some aids and equipment might be:
From the 1st October 2004 service providers have had a duty to... "Remove physical barriers preventing a disabled person from using a service."
Since that time it has been discriminatory to refuse a service to a disabled person due to barriers within the physical environment such as narrow doorways, steps or no lift etc.
Where alterations to a building can be proved to be too expensive or likely to substantially alter the use of a building, it may be deemed reasonable to allow the discrimination to continue. However, the law would expect the organisation concerned to make some attempt to provide an alternative way of making the service accessible.
EXAMPLE: If part of a building is inaccessible, film and photographs of that part of the building can be shown in an accessible area.
When interpreting Part 3 of the DDA, it is important to note that a service provider is not required to change the nature of the service provided. For example, a telephone help line does not have to become a personal or written information service. However staff would have to be aware of access technology such as minicoms, text phone and services such as BT Type Talk in order to facilitate use of the service.
Disabled children and adults have the right under the DDA to be included in mainstream pre- and post-16 education, and to have their access requirements met.
Educational establishments have a duty to include disabled people, make provision for their access requirements, and remove or minimise physical, attitudinal and organisational barriers which may prevent disabled people from learning and competing on equal terms with non-disabled students.
EXAMPLE: A Theatre in Education company should ensure that it's productions and workshops are accessible to disabled children.
The Disability Equality Duty came into force on 4th December 2006. This duty requires all public bodies to actively look at ways of ensuring that disabled people are treated equally.
All those covered by the duty must have produced a Disability Equality Scheme which they must now implement.
Examples of public bodies are:
In October 2007, the Disability Rights Commission, Race Equality Commission and Equal Opportunities Commission were closed. The issues once delegated to the three separate commissions are now all covered by the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
"The Equality and Human Rights Commission champions equality and human rights for all, working to eliminate discrimination, reduce inequality, protect human rights and to build good relations, ensuring that everyone has a fair chance to participate in society".
It is widely expected that the Commission will be reinforced by changes in the law, although whether this is achieved by reforming the existing legislation or replacing it with a single Equalities Act is not yet certain.
Information on disability issues can be found at the Equality and Human Rights Commission's website.
Equality and Human Rights Commission Helpline Wales
Freepost RRLR-UEYB-UYZL
1st Floor, 3 Callaghan Square, Cardiff, CF10 5BT
0845 604 8810 - Wales main number
0845 604 8820 - Wales textphone
0845 604 8830 - Wales fax
