The DDA – know the law
November 14, 2008
Disability is a subject many employers find difficult to deal with in the workplace, and often choose to ignore by avoiding (consciously or unconsciously) employing disabled workers altogether. However the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 1995 applies to all employers, and the legislation is something that organisations need to be aware of. The DDA makes it unlawful to discriminate against any person because of their disability. In the workplace, this applies to existing employees, plus any potential employees that apply for a position with the company, and any ex-employees (e.g. in giving a false reference due to a disability).
The first thing to consider is ‘what is a disability?’ In the DDA, a disability is defined as ‘a mental or physical condition which has a substantial and long term adverse affect on the employee’s ability to carry out normal day to day activities. Long-term means that the condition must last, or be likely to last, for more than 12 months’. This definition means that there are a vast number of conditions that will come under the DDA definition, and the list is increasing all the time. The first thing that many people think of when considering disability is someone in a wheelchair, but this type of disability actually only covers a very small percentage of the disabled people in the country. The DDA definitions of how a person’s ability to carry out day to day activities can be affected include: mobility, ability to lift or move everyday objects, speech, hearing, eyesight and understanding of physical danger (this is not the whole list). It is very important to remember that many disabilities are not visible (particularly mental illness) and therefore not obvious to an employer.
The next consideration is ‘what is an employer expected to do under the DDA?’, and this will be covered in the next post.
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