Disability Rights

What are disabled rights? 

In my mind they are the same rights enjoyed by abled bodied people, the right to education, to work, to public services and everything else, not to be told the bus can't take a wheelchair or to be told to leave a restaurant because your Down's child is offending the customers, where in normal society would that be acceptable, could you imagine the public outcry if something he gay was asked to leave somewhere for being to gay, I mean really, public outcry, and rightly so, but live and let live if it is against human nature for one political reason then so should it be for all.

Here are some facts as far as your rights are concerned

Find out about your rights as a person with disabilities in different areas of life, including in employment, health and education.

Access to goods, premises and services

The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA) gives people with disabilities important rights not to be discriminated against:

• in accessing everyday goods and services like shops, cafés, banks, cinemas and places of worship
• in buying or renting land or property
• in accessing facilities such as becoming a member of a larger private club (25 or more members)
• in accessing the functions of public bodies - the issuing of licences for example
• Access to everyday facilities

Your rights in employment

It is unlawful for employers to discriminate against people with disabilities for a reason related to their disability, in all aspects of employment, unless this can be justified. Justification is only possible in certain circumstances.

• Employment rights and the Disability Discrimination Act

Your rights in health

The DDA gives people with disabilities rights of access to health services and social services, such as doctors' surgeries, dental surgeries and hospitals.

You also have a right to information about healthcare and social services in a format that is accessible to you where it is reasonable for the service provider to provide it in that format.

• Rights of access to health and social care

Your rights in education

The Special Educational Needs and Disability Order 2005 and subsequent Disability Discrimination Order 2006 (DDO):

Buying and renting property - your rights

Under the DDA it is unlawful for landlords and other persons connected with the selling, letting and managing of premises to treat disabled people less favourably for a reason related to their disability, unless they can show that the treatment is justified.

The Disability Discrimination (Northern Ireland) Order 2006 amends or extends existing provisions in the DDA 1995 and includes, for example, making it easier for disabled people to rent property and for tenants to make disability-related adaptations.

• Tax on property and rental income (money, tax and benefits section)
• Building regulations (property and housing section)

Mental health and your rights

Many people with a mental health condition may not think of themselves as having a 'disability' - but they have rights under the Disability Discrimination Act.

against you because of a disability. The Equality Act 2010 protects you and covers areas including:

• application forms
• interview arrangements
• aptitude or proficiency tests
• job offers
• terms of employment, including pay
• promotion, transfer and training opportunities
• dismissal or redundancy
• discipline and grievances

Reasonable adjustments in the workplace

An employer has to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ to avoid you being put at a disadvantage compared to non-disabled people in the workplace. For example, adjusting your working hours or providing you with a special piece of equipment to help you do the job.

Recruitment

An employer who’s recruiting staff may make limited enquiries about your health or disability. 

You can only be asked about your health or disability: 

• to help decide if you can carry out a task that is an essential part of the work
• to help find out if you can take part in an interview
• to help decide if the interviewers need to make reasonable adjustments for you in a selection process
• to help monitoring
• if they want to increase the number of disabled people they employ
• if they need to know for the purposes of national security checks

You may be asked whether you have a health condition or disability on an application form or in an interview. You need to think about whether the question is one that is allowed to be asked at that stage of recruitment.

What is discrimination because of disability

It is against the law to discriminate against disabled people in various areas of their lives.

There are some important areas where it is not against the law to discriminate against disabled people, for example, in access to public transport services.

Disability discrimination can either be direct or indirect.

Direct discrimination is where you are treated less favourably because of your disability than someone without a disability would be treated in the same circumstances.

policy or practice that puts disabled people at a disadvantage. For example, there could be a health and safety reason, or an unavoidable business reason. Where this is the case, it won't count as discrimination.

There is another kind of discrimination which is called discrimination arising from disability. This means that someone is treated unfavourably because of something connected to their disability and there is no good reason for doing this. For example, they may need to use a guide dog but no adjustments are made to allow for this.

It is also disability discrimination if someone does not make adjustments to allow disabled people to access a service or carry out a job. For example, providing an information leaflet in Braille. This is called the duty to make reasonable adjustments.

It is also disability discrimination: 

• to harass you if you are disabled, for example, by making jokes about your disability
• to victimise you if you take legal action because of discrimination against you, or if you help someone else to take legal action because of discrimination
• not to take steps to make sure that disabled people can have access to things like goods, facilities and services, a workplace, an educational establishment, an association, or a public building. This is called making reasonable adjustments
• if someone discriminates against you because of someone you have a connection to who is disabled, such as your partner or child. This is known as discrimination by association.

Here is an example of discrimination by association:

An employer disciplines a woman because she has had to take time off to care for her disabled child. He has not disciplined other workers who have had similar amounts of time off work. This would be counted as direct disability discrimination.

Harassment because of disability

It is disability discrimination if someone is harassing you because of your disability. You may be able to take action about this.

Someone is harassing you if you find their behaviour towards you offensive, frightening, degrading, humiliating or in any way distressing. Examples of harassment could involve nicknames, teasing, name-calling, pulling faces, jokes, pranks or any other behaviour which you find upsetting because of your disability. Even if this behaviour is not deliberately meant to hurt you, it may still count as discrimination if you find it upsetting.

It can still be harassment, even if the person harassing you knows you don't have a disability.

Here is an example of harassment because of disability:

A boy with multiple sclerosis feels that he is being harassed by his Scout Leader who constantly asks him if he is feeling alright, even though his parents have asked him not to do this in front of the other boys.

Even though the Scout Leader might think he is being kind and has no intention of hurting or humiliating him, this could still count as harassment if the boy finds it distressing.

Access to Work

If you are disabled and need changes at work so you can do your job, you may be able to get help from Access to Work. You may also be able to get help from Access to Work if you are disabled and are looking for a job or are taking part in a Government training or work experience programme, for example, a supported internship or a self-made work trial. Also, you may be able to get help from Access to Work if you are a young disabled person doing voluntary work experience under the Youth Contract or if you are setting up your own business through the New Enterprise Allowance. 

Access to Work is a government scheme that works with disabled people and employers to work out what changes are needed so the disabled person can do their job. They may also be able to provide some money to pay for the changes. Access to Work may be able to provide an assessment of your needs at work, and help with things like equipment, adapting premises or a support worker. It can also provide support for people with mental health conditions to enable them to find, remain in or return to work. As the employee or person looking for work, it is your responsibility to contact Access to Work.

For more information about Access to Work, contact the Access to Work centre that covers the area where you live. For details of these, see the GOV.UK website at: www.gov.uk/access-to-work.

If you are likely to be eligible for help, you can print out a 'pre-employment eligibility letter' which you can show to a prospective employer. For more information, see www.gov.uk/access-to-work/how-to-claim.

If you have suffered discrimination at work because of your disability, you should talk to an experienced adviser, for example, at a Citizens Advice Bureau. To search for details of your nearest CAB, including those that can give advice by e-mail, click on nearest CAB.

Victimisation

If you complain about disability discrimination, you shouldn’t be victimised because of it. This means that you shouldn’t be treated unfairly just because you’ve made a complaint.

Making a complaint includes taking a case to court, going to an employment tribunal or standing up for your rights in some other way. 

You can get legal protection if you are victimised because you’ve made a complaint about disability discrimination. You can also get legal protection from discrimination for helping someone else to make a complaint about disability discrimination, for example, by giving evidence as a witness in court.

Here is an example of victimisation:

A mentally disabled man sues a pub owner because he was constantly making hurtful remarks about his disability to other customers.

Because of this, the pub owner bars the man from the pub altogether. This would be victimisation

Disability discrimination at work

It is against the law for an employer:

• to treat you less favourably because you are disabled than someone without a disability would be treated in the same circumstances. This is called direct discrimination
• to discriminate against you because of your connection with someone else who is disabled, for example, your partner or child. This is called discrimination by association
• to discriminate against you indirectly for example by requiring something which applies to all your colleagues but which is much more difficult for you and for disabled people to meet
• to treat you unfavourably because of something connected with your disability. For example, a worker is given night shifts to do. She has kidney failure and has nightly dialysis. Making her do night shifts would mean she won't be able to have her dialysis
• not to make reasonable adjustments to the workplace to allow you to work or to continue to work
• to harass you if you are disabled, for example, by making jokes about your disability
• to victimise you if you take legal action because of discrimination against you, or if you help someone else to take legal action because of discrimination.

Employers can treat disabled people less favourably only if they have a sufficiently justifiable reason for doing so, and only if the problem cannot be overcome by making 'reasonable adjustments'. For example, an employer would be justified in rejecting someone with severe back pain for a job as a carpet fitter, as they cannot carry out the essential requirements of the job.

and services

The law gives certain basic rights to all consumers of goods, facilities and services.

For more information about your basic consumer rights, see Buying goods – your rights and Buying services – your rights.

In addition to your basic rights as a consumer, if you are disabled, you also have other rights which protect you against discrimination when you buy goods and services or use certain facilities. This applies regardless of the size of the organisation or company providing the goods, services or facilities.

Examples of services which must not discriminate against you if you are disabled include services provided by: hotels, banks, building societies, solicitors, local authorities, advice agencies, pubs, theatres, shops, telesales, railway stations, churches, doctors, law courts and public transport. It does not matter whether the service is free or has to be paid for.

Generally speaking, insurance companies are not allowed to discriminate against you if you are disabled, but they may sometimes be able to treat you less favourably if they can show that this is based on reliable information about insurance risk.

transport

If you’re disabled, providers of public transport must not treat you less favourably than they would treat a person who isn't disabled (unless they can show that the treatment is justified). They have the same duties as other providers of services. These rules apply to the transport service itself as well as to other related services, for example, at a railway station.

There are exceptions these rules – ships are not covered by the rules although their related services are. For example, if you're disabled, you must not be treated less favourably at the ferry port.

When you travel by air, airport operators must provide services which allow you to board, disembark and transfer to another flight. They are not allowed to charge for these services.

There are also special rules protecting disabled passengers when they travel by air in Europe. Airlines and travel companies are not allowed to refuse to accept bookings from disabled passengers. This applies to all flights leaving an airport in the European Union (EU) and to any flight arriving in an EU country on an EU airline.

More information about moving around and the assistance you can get when you fly to andfrom Europe, including domestic flights, is available from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) website at: www.equalityhumanrights.com.