The Disability Discrimination Act 1995
This Act covers employment and the provision of services. Discrimination occurs when a disabled person is treated less favourably than other people because of their disability, unless there is a justifiable reason. The main justifiable reason is on health and safety grounds.
This Act is not neutral in the same way as the legislation on gender, or on race and ethnicity. Someone who is not disabled cannot use the DDA if they believe they received less favourable treatment than a disabled person.
Employers and service providers have a duty to make reasonable adjustments so that a disabled person can take up a job, carry on working or make use of a service. The failure to make a reasonable adjustment will be regarded as less favourable treatment on the grounds of disability. Examples of reasonable adjustments include providing special equipment, changing working practices and procedures and adapting premises.
All organisations, are required to ensure that services open to the public should be fully accessible to disabled people. This refers to any premises which are open to the public.
This Act also covers how information about an organisation’s services is presented, whether its formats are accessible to disabled people. For example, if a service user requests information in large print, in Braille or on audio-tape an association/organisation must be able to meet this request within a reasonable time period.
The Disability Discrimination Act 2005
This Act came into force in December 2006. It places a duty on all public authorities to:
- have due regard, when carrying out their functions by taking steps into account of a disabled person’s disabilities, even where that involves treating disabled persons more favourably than other persons;
- eliminate unlawful discrimination and unlawful harassment of disabled people and
- improve the equality of opportunity for disabled people.
The general duty does not tell public authorities how to do their work. Instead it requires them to give due weight to the need to promote disability equality in relation to all policy and practice including planning, policy making, service delivery, regulation, inspection, enforcement and employment. Organisation should take particular care to ensure that they do not make judgements on impairment of either staff or applicants but ask questions about needs and requirements and how these can be met.
The Act also extends the definition of disability to include people with HIV, cancer and multiple sclerosis.
