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 "discriminate" mean?
From 1 October the DDA will prohibit the following kinds of discrimination by all employers:
- direct discrimination;
- failure to comply with the duty to make reasonable adjustments;
- treating a disabled person less favourably;
- subjecting a disabled person to harassment;
- victimization of a disabled person.
The Act says that an employer.s treatment of a disabled person amounts to direct discrimination if:
- the treatment is on the grounds of his/her disability; and
- the treatment is less favourable than the way in which a person not having that particular disability is (or would be) treated.
One cannot discriminate against a disabled person:
- in the recruitment process;
- in their terms and conditions of employment;
- in chances for promotion, transfer, training or other benefits;
- by dismissing them unfairly;
- by treating them less fairly than other workers;
- by subjecting them to harassment.
