Disability equality under the Equality Act 2010
The Equality Act introduces a number of important changes that should benefit disabled people, and reduce the barriers to employment and improve access to services.
The Disability Discrimination Acts will be repealed once the provisions of the Equality Act 2010 come into force in October 2010 and April 2011 (public duties).
The changes will include:
New definition of disability
The act says that a person has a disability if they have a physical or mental impairment and the impairment has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.
The law will also provide protection to people who have been disabled, such as when a person is well for a reasonable period after a period of mental illness, and thus recognises the long-term impact of disability on a person's opportunities and access to services.
Indirect discrimination
It is now unlawful to indirectly discriminate against disabled people. Previously, the law did not include such a provision.
Discrimination by association/ perception
This is where a person is discriminated against because they are associated with a disabled person, or because they are perceived, or believed, to be a disabled person. For example, a carer of a disabled person may experience discrimination from their employer, or when seeking to access services.
Discrimination arising out of disability
Discrimination arising out of someone's disability is new and is intended to ensure that a disabled person is not treated less favourably because of something connected to their disability, unless such treatment can be justified.
An example of this could be where a disabled person is denied access to a food premises because of their assistance dog, unless it could be established that admitting the dog would specifically compromise the health and safety of all customers.
Duty to make reasonable adjustments
The new act has expanded the coverage of the duty to make reasonable adjustments in employment and when delivering services.
It is now a requirement to consider providing equipment such as auxiliary aids or services, such as ICT equipment or a BSL interpreter, in addition to considering altering the physical environment, or changing the way a service is delivered.
Pre-employment health and disability enquiries
The Equality Act makes it unlawful to ask people applying for employment about their health or disability, including time off work because of illness, other than to enquire about the need for reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process, to help monitor the fairness of the recruitment policy, or where the requirements of a job require the job holder to carry out duties which are reliant upon being able to do physical type activities, such as lifting and carrying, without the aid of equipment, or having a specific level of mental capacity.
We have already removed such questions from our job application forms, and any information provided in relation to the need for reasonable adjustments of for equalities monitoring purposes is not used to short-list candidates, or as part of the decision-making process, other than where the job requires a specific ability or level of fitness and good health.
New public sector equality duty
View our updated informaton on the new public sector equality duty (opens in a new window) which replaced the duty to promote gender equality.