The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA 1995) 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. This is a list of Acts of Parliament of the English Parliament during that body's existence prior to the Act of Union of 1707 This is a list of Acts of Parliament of the English Parliament during that body's existence prior to the Act of Union of 1707 This is a list of Ordinances and Acts of the Parliament of England from 1642 to 1660, during the English Civil War and the Interregnum. This is a list of Acts of Parliament of the English Parliament during that body's existence prior to the Act of Union of 1707 This is a list of Acts of Parliament of the English Parliament during that body's existence prior to the Act of Union of 1707 List of Acts of the Scottish Parliament to 1707 is a list of Acts of Parliament of the Parliament of Scotland. This is an incomplete list of Acts of the Parliament of Ireland for the years up to 1700. This is an incomplete list of Acts of the Parliament of Ireland for the years 1701 to 1800. This is an incomplete list of Acts of the Parliament of Great Britain for the years 1707-1719 This is an incomplete list of Acts of the Parliament of Great Britain for the years 1720-1739 This is an incomplete list of Acts of the Parliament of Great Britain for the years 1740-1759 This is an incomplete list of Acts of the Parliament of Great Britain for the years 1760-1779 This is an incomplete list of Acts of the Parliament of Great Britain for the years 1780-1800 This is an incomplete list of Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for the years 1801-1819 This is an incomplete list of Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for the years 1820-1839 This is an incomplete list of Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for the years 1840-1859 This is an incomplete list of Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for the years 1860-1879 This is an incomplete list of Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for the years 1880-1899 This is an incomplete list of Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for the years 1900-1919 This is an incomplete list of Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for the years 1920-1939 This is an incomplete list of Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for the years 1940-1959 This is an incomplete list of Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for the years 1960-1979 This is an incomplete list of Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for the years 1980-1999 This is a list of Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for the years 2000 to the present "Acts of the Scottish Parliament" redirects here For pre-Union acts see List of Acts of the Scottish Parliament to 1707. This is a list of Acts of the Parliament of Northern Ireland, from its first session in 1921 to suspension in 1972. This is a list of Acts of the Northern Ireland Assembly passed by that body from its establishment in 2000 until its suspension in 2002 and from its re-establishment in |align=left| Contemporary Welsh Law English Law Courts of England and Wales ---- National Assembly The is a list of Orders in Council for Northern Ireland which are Primary legislation for the province when it is being directly ruled from London and also for A Statutory Instrument ( SI) is the principal form in which delegated or Secondary legislation is made in Great Britain. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Year 1995 ( MCMXCV) was a Common year starting on Sunday. Events of 1995 It is a civil rights law. Other countries use constitutional, social rights or criminal law to make similar provisions. A constitution is a system for government often Codified as a written document that establishes the rules and principles of an autonomous political entity The term "social rights" is sometimes used to distinguished those rights arising from the Social contract, akin to Natural rights arising from nature but before The term criminal law, sometimes called penal law, refers to any of various bodies of rules in different Jurisdictions whose common characteristic is the potential The Equality and Human Rights Commission provides support for the Act. The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC is an Non-Departmental Public Body body in Great Britain which was established by the Equality Act 2006. 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 DDA 1995 places duties on service providers and requires "reasonable adjustments" to be made when providing access to goods, facilities, services and premises.
The duties on service providers have been introduced in three stages:
- Since 2nd December 1996 - It has been unlawful for service providers to treat disabled people less favourably for a reason related to their disability;
- Since 1st October 1999 - Service providers have had to make 'reasonable adjustments' for disabled people, such as providing extra help or making changes to the way they provide their services.
- Since 1st October 2004 - Service providers may have to make other 'reasonable adjustments' in relation to the physical features of their premises to overcome physical barriers to access.
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Amending legislation
The Act has been amended by the following legislation:
- The Disability Rights Commission Act 1999, which replaced the National Disability Council with the Disability Rights Commission (DRC);
- The Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001 inserted new provisions in Part 4 of the DDA 1995 in connection with disability discrimination in schools and other educational establishments;
- The Private Hire Vehicles (Carriage of Guide Dogs etc) Act 2002, which prevented operators of such vehicles refusing to take assistance dogs, or making additional charges for such dogs. The Disability Rights Commission (DRC was an independent body set up by the British Parliament to end discrimination against disabled people The Disability Rights Commission (DRC was an independent body set up by the British Parliament to end discrimination against disabled people
- The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (Amendment) Regulations 2003, and the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (Pensions) Regulations 2003 which amended the DDA in line with the EU employment directive.
- The Disability Discrimination Act 2005, which completed the implementation of the Disability Rights Task Force recommendations, including the extension of the DDA 1995 to cover public transport, and the introduction of a duty on public authorities to promote equality for disabled people.
- The Equality Act 2006 which transferred the role of the Disability Rights Commission to the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC). The Equality Act (2006 (2006 c3 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom covering the United Kingdom, and covers the following areas - the creation The Disability Rights Commission (DRC was an independent body set up by the British Parliament to end discrimination against disabled people The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC is an Non-Departmental Public Body body in Great Britain which was established by the Equality Act 2006. The EHRC took on this role from 1st October 2007, and has powers to issue guidance on and enforce all the equality enactments (covering race, sex, disability, religion and belief, sexual orientation and age).
The details of the positive duty to promote equality are discussed in Delivering Equality for Disabled People
Principles
The DDA 1995 departs from the fundamental principles of older UK discrimination law (the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 and the Race Relations Act 1976). The Sex Discrimination Act 1975 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom to protect Men and Women from Discrimination on The Race Relations Act 1976 was established by the British Parliament to prevent discrimination on the grounds of race 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 1995 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 1995 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.
The system of protection of disabled people, especially those with mental health problems to keep their homes, has been greatly enhanced by certain recent rulings in the UK Court of Appeal -- City of Manchester v Romano -- [1] .
Under the act it is unlawful to discriminate against a disabled person by evicting them or subjecting them to other detriment unless justified under the limited number of justifications set out in the act.
In practice the only relevant justification is that the landlord believes and also that it is objectively necessary for the protection of the health or safety of the disabled person or someone else
Where the cause of the taking of proceedings is eg rent arrears which was caused by the disability eg by Housing Benefit being cancelled through non response to correspondence and the non response was caused by the disability Then not only is it discrimination it is discrimination which cannot be justified on the grounds allowed in the act. This applies whether or not the landlord knew of the disability. This applies even if
- the landlord has a mandatory ground for possession, e. g.
- 2 months rent arrears or
- 2 months notice no reason in cases of assured shorthold tenancy where the actual reason is rent arrears
- the tenancy is one where there is no statutory system of protection, e. g.
- where in LA temporary accommodation under the homelessness duty
- the tenacy is a business tenancy
The tenant may counterclaim and seek an injunction restraining the landlord from continuing the possession proceedings
The judges were very worried about the extent of the law and urged the UK parliament to change it. However there has since been a new act of parliament and there was no weakening of this protection.
Cases
- Coleman v. Attridge Law, Advocate General Maduro's opinion ([http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:62006C0303:EN:HTML C‑303/06). This involves the rights of third parties who are not themselves disabled to claim for discrimination.
See also
- Easy Access on public transport, etc
- Disability rights movement Disability rights activism
- Outside the UK
- Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 for corresponding US legislation - though this does not have a positive equality duty. Accessibility is a general term used to describe the degree to which a product (e The disability rights movement aims to improve the Quality of life of people with disabilities. The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA is the short title of United States ( codified at et seq The United States of America —commonly referred to as the
- Ontarians with Disabilities Act for the corresponding legislation in Ontario, Canada. The Ontarians with Disabilities Act is the short title of the Ontario Government's Bill 125 - "An Act to improve the identification removal and prevention of barriers faced Ontario (ɒnˈtɛrioʊ is a province located in the central part of Canada, the largest by population and second largest after Quebec Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page
External links
- Official text of the statute as amended and in force today within the United Kingdom, from the UK Statute Law Database
- Equality and Human Rights Commission
- Archived Disability Rights Commission websites
- Article on DDA from Directgov - UK govt information
- Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and Disability Discrimination Act 2005 at Her Majesty’s Stationery Office (NB this shows the Act as passed in 1995, and does not incorporate later revisions). The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located The UK Statute Law Database is the official web -accessible Database of the Statute law of the United Kingdom, hosted by the Ministry of
- Building websites to comply with the UK DDA
- Disabled Go List of resources from Disabled Go, a website founded by wheelchair user Gregory Burke
- Information on DDA in the Workplace
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