Transcript Purpose of the Training

The Disability
Discrimination Act
Laura Selbekk NRAC Consultant
Licensed DRC Trainer
“Well, this certainly messes up our plans to conquer the universe!”
Purpose of the Training

Give an overview of the DDA
Introduce a process for identifying
discriminatory practice

Identify process for resolving
problems of discrimination

The Different Perspectives
Medical Model
My impairment is the focus, therefore it is my problem. It
is about what I cannot do in the same way as another
person, what I am unable to access because of my
impairment and implies that I am fundamentally different
from other people.
Social Model
Disability is not caused by my impairment, but by the
way in which society fails to meet my needs.
Disability in the UK

11 million “disabled” adults = 17% of
the population

1 in 4 will at some stage in their life be
disabled

the DDA introduces a new “definition”
of disability - much wider in scope

25% of the population could be covered
by the DDA
Universal Need
Statistics
•
•
•
•
•
•
Physical
wheelchair user
ambulant disabled
Reading Difficulties
Dyslexia
Visually impaired/poor vision
Deaf or hard of hearing
Mental illness
Arthritis
Permanent Need
600,000
(300,000)
Unknown
2.5 to 6 million
2.5 to 3 million
8.5 million - 1 in 7
15+ million - 1 in 4
over age 55 - 1 in 3
One in Seven Adults in the UK
Has an Impairment -
Mobility
Impairment
Disfigurement
Learning
Difficulty
Mental
Health
Difficulty
Visual Impairment
Hearing
Impairment
and it is not always ‘obvious’...
The Disability Discrimination
Act 1995
Received Royal Assent on the 8th November 1995
Outlaws discrimination against
disabled people in recruitment and
employment and in the provision of
goods, facilities and services
Disability Discrimination Act 1995
• Part l - definition of disability
• Part ll - employment issues
• Part III - access to goods, facilities and
services
• Part lll - selling and letting of premises
• Part lV – education (SENDA)
• Part V - transport vehicles
• Part Vl - National Disability Councils
(DRC)
• Schedule Vlll - modifications to cover
Northern Ireland
Part III of the DDA - Currently in
Force from December 1996
Making it unlawful to:
 refuse to serve a disabled person
 provide a service to a disabled
person on less favourable terms
 provide a service to a disabled
person in a less favourable manner
- unless it can be “justified”
Part III of the DDA - The Later
Rights of Access
From October 1999, service providers are required to:
• take reasonable steps to change any policies,
procedures and practices which make it impossible or
unreasonably difficult for disabled people to make use of
a service
• take reasonable steps to provide auxiliary aids or
services which will enable disabled people to make use
of a service
• take reasonable steps to provide the service by a
reasonable alternative method, where physical barriers
make it impossible or unreasonably difficult for disabled
people to use a service
Part III of the DDA –
Not Yet in Force
From 2004 service providers will be required to:
• take reasonable steps to remove, alter, or
provide reasonable means of avoiding
physical features which make it impossible or
unreasonably difficult for disabled people to use a
service
Has Discrimination Occurred?
Step 1:
Does the service user meet the Act’s definition of
disability?
Step 2:
Is the service excluded from the Act?
Step 3:
Has the disabled person received less favourable
treatment and/or has there been a failure to
make a reasonable adjustment?
Step 4:
Can the service provider justify the treatment
and/or is the failure to make a reasonable
adjustment justifiable?
Step 5:
Resolving the problem
Does the service user meet the Act’s
definition of disability?
“Any physical or mental impairment which has a
substantial and long term adverse effect on the
ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.”

Impairment (physical, sensory, learning, mental
health)

Substantial (not trivial)

Long term

Adversely Affect Normal Daily Activities
(12 month criteria)
Normal Day to Day Activities

mobility
 manual dexterity
 physical co-ordination
 continence
 ability to lift, carry or otherwise move
everyday objects
 speech, hearing or eyesight
 memory or ability to concentrate, learn
or understand
 perception of the risk of physical
danger
Are the following considered as ‘being
disabled’ under the DDA?

someone who walks with sticks
 someone who has breast cancer
 someone who has tattoos
 someone who is registered blind
 someone diagnosed as HIV +
 someone who had kidney failure 1 year ago
 someone who is addicted to alcohol
 someone who has arthritis
 someone with a past history of mental illness
 someone who is hearing impaired, but who’s
hearing is corrected by a hearing aid
 someone who has epileptic seizures that recur
from time to time
Discussion Point
If an older person were to come into
your office with a complaint about
discrimination, how would you
identify whether or not they are
disabled?
Is the service provider excluded from
the Act?
All providers of goods, facilities and services
to the public (within the UK) are covered
under
Part III of the Act unless specifically excluded.
EXCLUDED goods, facilities and services:
transport vehicles
education (Covered under SENDA)
private clubs
‘Goods, Facilities and Services’ to
the Public

access to and use of any place the public is allowed
to enter
 access to and use of means of communication or
information services
 accommodation in a hotel, boarding house or other
similar establishment
 facilities by way of banking, insurance, grants, loans,
credit or finance
 facilities for entertainment, refreshment or recreation
 services of any profession or trade, or any public
authority
 facilities of employment agencies
 services paid for or for free
Are the following services/service
providers covered by the DDA?

a railway station ticket office
 a hospital
 a cinema
 a golf club
 an estate agency
 a church or other place of worship
 a university course
 a taxi
 a PTA meeting
 advice centres
 a bus
 a leisure centre
Has the disabled person received less
favourable treatment and/or has there been a
failure to make a reasonable adjustment?

Did the disabled person receive less favourable
treatment?

Was it impossible or unreasonably difficult for
the disabled person to use the service?

Was a reasonable adjustment made to remedy
the situation?
“Less Favourable Treatment”
• a refusal of a service
• a service on worse terms
• a service in a lower standard or worse
manner
and
was the less favourable treatment
related to the person’s impairment?
The Pub…
The Pub
In order to be less favourable, the
treatment must be related to the person’s
disability. This means that if the person
did not have that disability, he would not
have behaved in that particular way and
would not have been refused service.
This example introduces a critical issue
about the connection to the person’s
disability and the comparison to other
people to whom that reason does not
apply.
The Opera House…
The Nightclub…
The Opera House...
The service could not have been
provided to anyone
The Nightclub...
The nature of the service would be
fundamentally altered
Discussion Point
Making a “reasonable adjustment”
Duncan is deaf. He wishes to travel to
Glasgow by train and when he
approaches the railway station’s
ticket office he is unable to
understand the ticket office assistant.
He requires a loop system to
communicate effectively. Is the
station excluded from the Act?
Discussion Point
A Council Tax Office has a public
enquiry service that is located on the
third floor of the building with no lift
access. A woman with a severe
mobility disability is unable to
negotiate the stairs and complains
that she is not able to make use of
the service.
The biggest misunderstanding
related to this part of the
Act is likely to concern
the need for physical access.
It is the service that is required
to be accessible - not the
premises (yet...)
Justifications for Less Favourable
Treatment

health or safety risk to anyone, including the
disabled person
 where the service could not have been provided
at all to other people
 necessary to provide a service at all to the
disabled person
 because of the cover the greater cost
 inability to enter into an enforceable agreement or
give informed consent
 where a reasonable adjustment would
fundamentally alter the nature of the business or
service
 when it is a threat to national security
Resolving the Problem
•Who is responsible?
•What outcome is wanted?
Alternative Dispute
Resolution (DRC)
Court Action
Barriers Faced by Disabled People
Attitudinal
Making assumptions about disabled people;
prejudice, ignorance, lack of education, fear, indifference and labeling
a disabled person which obscures his/her attributes...
Environmental
Obstacles which prevent the free movement of disabled people from
place to place;
inaccessible transport, lack of appropriate allocated parking, travel
announcements made verbally over loudspeakers...
Organisational
Policies and procedures which exclude disabled people;
not taking into account individual capabilities, regulations which are
inflexible and unthinkingly applied
Key Points in Working to Remove the
Barriers





appreciate the strengths of disabled people as
individuals
recognise the importance of disabled people as
customers (up to 25% of the market)
understand needs of disabled people as
individual customers and service users
communicate and involve disabled people in
breaking down barriers
avoid stereotypes, assumptions, myths and
misconceptions
Language

communicate naturally

try and avoid using labels

if a description is needed, use ‘disabled
person’ or ‘person with a disability’ (‘the
handicapped’ or ‘crippled’ are
inappropriate)

try “non-disabled” instead of “able-bodied”

avoid referring to a person by the condition
they have, e.g. don’t say “an epileptic”; say
“a person with epilepsy”