The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA)
- What does it mean?
- What does "discriminate" mean?
- How does this affect businesses?
- What if an alteration costs too much?
- What is "reasonable"?
- Are listed buildings exempt?
- What if businesses have no disabled customers or employees?
- What are the risks of doing nothing?
- What should you do next?
- What is an Access Audit?
- What else should you take in to account?
- What are the advantages of compliancy with the DDA?
What does it mean?
The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA) aims to protect disabled people against discrimination . both in employment and when using a facility or service. The Act has far reaching implications for all businesses.
The final phase of the DDA came in to force in October 2004. The government has implemented the legislation in three phases:
Phase I:
In 1996 it became illegal to treat disabled people less favourably because of their disability.
Phase II:
In 1999 businesses were required to make .reasonable adjustments. for disabled staff. This included providing additional support or equipment. Changes also had to be made to the way services were provided to customers; providing information leaflets in large print for customers who may require this service for example.
Phase III:
From 1 October 2004, businesses are required to overcome access barriers to their premises. Any person who provides a service to the public is required by the DDA to ensure that those services are .reasonably. accessible to disabled people. Additionally, the exemption applying to companies that employ fewer than 15 people is no longer applicable. This may mean that physical alterations need to be undertaken such as installation of ramps for wheelchair users. Companies with fewer than 15 employees will no longer be able to legally refuse to employ a disabled employee. The new law requires all businesses to accommodate disabled persons in the work environment.
The Act introduces new laws aimed at ending the discrimination that over 10 million disabled people in the UK face on a daily basis. If you provide goods, facilities or services to the general public you are a .service provider. and you therefore have responsibilities under the Act. It does not matter whether you provide these free of charge or whether you charge for the service.
Implementation of the Act affects virtually everyone. Just a few examples of which:
- employment including building structure and various tools to enable disabled persons to be able function in a work environment
- renting and letting of commercial and residential property
- transport, notably public service
- education
The Act defines disability and identifies who is protected under the Act:
"a person who has a physical or mental impairment, which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on a person.s ability to carry out normal day to day activities"
Examples of such impairments that need to be considered may include:
- physical disabilities
- hearing and sight impairments
- mental health
- learning disabilities
