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The Disability Discrimination Act



The Disability Discrimination Act is a UK parliamentary act of 1995, which makes it unlawful to discriminate against people in respect of their disabilities in relation to employment, the provision of goods and services, education and transport. It is a civil rights law. Other countries use constitutional, social rights or criminal law to make similar provisions. The British Government set up the Disability Rights Commission to provide support for the Act. Equivalent legislation exists in Northern Ireland, which is enforced by the Northern Ireland Equality Commission.


 


It is still permissible for employers to have reasonable medical criteria for employment, and to expect adequate performance from all employees once any reasonable adjustments have been made.


 


In addition to imposing obligations on employers, the Act places duties on service providers and requires reasonable adjustments to be made when providing access to goods, facilities, services and premises (Part 3 of the Act).


Principles

The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA) departs from the fundamental principles of older UK discrimination law (the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 and the Race Relations Act 1976). These Acts depend on the concepts of direct discrimination and indirect discrimination. However, these concepts are insufficient to deal with the issues of disability discrimination.


The core concepts in the DDA are, instead...

* Less favourable treatment for a reason related to a disabled person's disability; and


* Failure to make a reasonable adjustment.


 


Reasonable adjustment or, as it is known in some other jurisdictions, 'reasonable accommodation', is the radical concept that makes the DDA so different from the older legislation. Instead of the rather passive approach of indirect discrimination (where someone can take action if they have been disadvantaged by a policy, practice or criterion that a body with duties under the law has adopted), reasonable adjustment is an active approach that requires employers, service providers etc to take steps to remove barriers from disabled people's participation.


For example

* Employers are likely to find it reasonable to provide accessible IT equipment;


* Many shops are likely to find it reasonable to make their premises accessible to wheelchair users;


* Councils are likely to find it reasonable to provide information in alternative formats (such as large print) as well as normal written form.


 


The Disability Rights Commission's Codes of Practice give more information to bodies with duties on assessing whether a particular adjustment is reasonable. In general, the factors to consider would include:


 


* Whether the proposed adjustment would meet the needs of the disabled person;


* Whether the adjustment is affordable;


* Whether the adjustment would have a serious effect on other people.


 


Sometimes there may be no reasonable adjustment, and the outcome is that a disabled person is treated less favourably. For example, if a person was not able to understand the implications of entering into a mortgage or loan agreement, and they did not have anyone authorised to act for them, it would not make sense to require a bank or building society to enter into that agreement. The Act therefore permits employers and service providers to justify less favourable treatment (and in some instances failure to make a reasonable adjustment) in certain circumstances.

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