Disability Discrimination Act 1995  Back to Previous Page

The Disability Discrimination Act aims to tackle discrimination in:
•

Employment. Only applies to employers with 15 or more full-time or part- time employees based in and away from the organisation’s headquarters.

N.B. an employer must not discriminate against contract workers even though they are not directly employed by them.
• Obtaining goods, facilities and services
• Buying or renting land or property.


Discrimination occurs when a person is treated less favourably than someone else because of their disability and it cannot be justified.

 Definition of Disability

The Act states that a person has a disability -

“if he/she has a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on his/her ability to carry out normal day to day activities”

The definition includes:-
-  Physical disabilities

-  Mental impairments

-  Sensory impairments

-  Severe disfigurement

-  Conditions which have an effect, however small on day to day activities, but are expected to become substantial

-  People who have a history of disability ( e.g. a person recovering from mental illness)

The disability must have substantial and long term effects on day to day activities and have lasted, or be expected to last 12 months

 Unlawful Discrimination in Employment

There must be no discrimination against disabled people in the:
 
•
 Recruitment and retention of employees
•
 Promotion and transfers
•
 Training and development
•
 Dismissal


 Reasonable adjustments

Employers must make reasonable adjustments to the physical features of premises and to working arrangements. A proposed ‘adjustment’ may be considered unreasonable if:-

• The cost is prohibitive and/or the employer’s resources are limited

• It is practically very difficult or impossible

Reasonable adjustments may include:

e.g.
  
•
 Widening doorways
•
 Changing taps to make them easier to turn
•
 Altering lighting for those with poor vision
•
 Alteration of working hours
•
 Supply of additional training
•
 Buying or making changes to equipment
•
 Transferring the person to an existing vacancy     
•
 Allocation of duties to an existing employee  
    

Occupations exempt from the Act
•
 Armed Forces
•
 Police officers (including those in Specialist Forces)
•
 Fire-fighters
•
 Prison officers and prison custody officers
•
 Those who work on ships, hovercraft and aircraft
•
 Those who work wholly or largely outside the U.K.


 Points to note
1.

 A disability which is diagnosed does not count unless it has an effect
e.g - Multiple Sclerosis
2. Employers cannot say ‘no’ to employees with a certain disability on a blanket basis. They must look at each case individually, e.g. someone who has epilepsy controlled by drugs may be able to drive. Insurers must insure drivers with disabilities providing the employer knows about it
3. Sometimes discrimination is justified on health and safety grounds.
e.g. a chemical firm may not accept asthma sufferers to work in their processing plant