Disability Discrimination Act

The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 1995 was passed to end the discrimination that many disabled people face.

It aimed to protect disabled people in:

• employment
• access to goods, facilities and services
• the management, buying or renting of land or property
• education

With regards to employment, the DDA made it unlawful for an employer and therefore any of its staff to discriminate against a disabled person for a reason that relates to the persons disability, if that treatment cannot be justified.
This applied not only to recruitment but all areas of employment including the terms and conditions of employment, opportunities for promotion, transfer, training, dismissals, redundancies, and post employment (e.g. the provision of references).
For education providers, new duties came into effect in September 2002 under Part IV of the DDA amended by the Special Educational Needs and Disability Act (SENDA).

Further regulations, the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (Amendment) Regulations 2003 aim to make the law more inclusive and introduced certain key amendments, including:

• change of burden of proof from employee to employer
• specific prohibition of harassment based on disability

Most recently, a new Disability Discrimination Bill was given royal assent in April 2005 and has now become the Disability Discrimination Act (2005) .

This Act, which extends the scope of the Disability Discrimination Act (1995), will amongst other things:

• make it easier for mental health service users, people with cancer, HIV and multiple sclerosis to claim their rights under the DDA
• address institutional discrimination through a duty to promote disability equality for the public sector.

Definitions

A disabled person is described in the DDA 2005 is mental or physical impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on his or her ability to carry out normal day to day activities . Other additional points can also be considered.

Discrimination

The legislation and accompanying statutory codes of practice define the following forms of discrimination:

Direct discrimination

An employer's treatment of a disabled person amounts to direct discrimination if:

• it is on the ground of his/her disability;
• the treatment is less favourable than the way in which a person not having that particular disability is (or would be) treated, and;
• the relevant circumstances, including the abilities, of the person with whom the comparison is made are the same as, or not materially different from, those of the disabled person;
• this form of discrimination is always unlawful.

Failure to comply with a duty to make reasonable adjustments:

• a failure to comply with a duty to make a reasonable adjustment in respect of a disabled person amounts to discrimination in its own right;
• such a failure is therefore unlawful.

Disability-related discrimination:

An employer's treatment of a disabled person amounts to discrimination if:

• it is for a reason related to his/her disability;
• the treatment is less favourable than the way in which the employer treats (or would treat) others to whom that reason does not (or would not) apply, and;
• this form of discrimination is unlawful if the employer cannot show that the treatment is justified.

Victimisation

Victimisation, another form of discrimination, is made unlawful by the Act. It is unlawful for one person to treat another (the victim) less favourably than he/she treats or would treat other people in the same circumstances because the victim has:

• brought, or given evidence or information in connection with, proceedings under the Act (whether or not proceedings are later withdrawn);
• done anything else under or by reference to the Act, or;
• alleged someone has contravened the Act (whether or not the allegation is later dropped);
• or because the person believes or suspects that the victim has done or intends to do any of these things;
• this form of discrimination is always unlawful.