Disability Discrimination Act document
The DDA has, since December 1996, made it unlawful for employers to discriminate (on grounds of a person's disability) against current or potential employees and for service providers to refuse to serve, offer a lower standard of service or a service on worse terms to, a disabled person for a reason relating to their disability. Further duties, affecting service providers, have been and will be introduced over time.
For the purposes of the Act discrimination will have occurred when:
- For a reason that relates to a person's disability, the service providers (or employer) treats the person less favourably than they would treat others to whom that reason does not or would not apply: and
- A service provider (or an employer) fails to comply with a duty to make a reasonable adjustment imposed on him/her by section 21 (or section 6) in relation to the disabled person.
On 1st December 1996 the DDA placed new duties on those who provide goods, facilities or services to the public. The Act now expects service providers to have reviewed and make reasonable adjustments to their policies, practices and procedures, to ensure that they do not deliberately, or by default, discriminate against disabled people.
- For example, fire evacuation procedures that do not take account of the needs of disabled people should be amended.
Since 1st October 1999 all 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,
- Providing auxiliary aids or services which would enable/facilitate disabled people to use a service,
From 4th October 2004 service providers should have made reasonable adjustments to the physical features of their premises to overcome barriers to access. They must do this by,
- Altering, removing or providing a reasonable means of avoiding such physical barriers, or,
- By providing a service by a reasonable alternative method.