Disability

The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) was passed in 1995 to end the discrimination that many disabled people face. It protects disabled people in:

• Employment
• Access to goods, facilities and services
• The management, buying or renting of land or property
• Education

For local authorities, the following applies:

• Since December 1996 it has been unlawful to treat people less favourable than other people for a reason related to their disability
• Since October 1999 they have to make reasonable adjustments for disabled people, such as providing extra help or making changes to the way they provide their services
• Since October 2004 they have had to make reasonable adjustments to the physical features of their premises to overcome physical barriers to access

For Education providers, new duties came into effect in September 2002 under Part IV of the DDA amended by the Special Educational Needs and Disability Act (SENDA). These require schools, colleges, universities, and providers of adult education and youth services to ensure that they do not discriminate against disabled people.

Under Part IV of the DDA amended by the SENDA, the duty to provide auxiliary aids, through reasonable adjustment, came into force in September 2003.

From September 2005, further and higher education institutions have been required to make reasonable adjustments to physical features of premises where these put disabled people at a substantial disadvantage.

The DDA also allows the government to set minimum standards to help disabled people to use public transport easily.

Additionally, the DDA 2005 amends the DDA 1995 to place a duty on public bodies to promote equality of opportunity for disabled people. The Disability Equality Duty will come into force on 5th December 2006.

Disability Equality Duty

When carry out the functions of the council we will have to:

The General Duty:

• Promote equality of opportunity between disabled people and other persons
• Eliminate discrimination that is unlawful under the Act
• Eliminate harassment of disabled persons that is related to their disabilities
• Promote positive attitudes towards disabled persons
• Encourage participation by disabled persons in public life; and
• Take steps to take account of disabled persons’ disabilities, even where that involves treating disabled persons more favourably than other persons

The Specific Duty:

All local authorities must produce and publish a Disability Equality Scheme that must include:

• Demonstrating how it intends to fulfil its general and specific duties
• Involvement of disabled people in the development of the scheme
• A statement of:
  - The way disabled people have been involved in the development of the scheme
  - The authority’s methods for impact assessment
  - Steps which the authority will take towards fulfilling its general duty (the action plan)
  - The authority’s arrangements for gathering information in relation to employment, and, where appropriate, its delivery of education and its functions
  - The authority’s arrangements for putting the information gathered to use, in particular in reviewing the effectiveness of its action plan and in preparing subsequent Disability Schemes
  - A public authority must, within 3 years of the Scheme being published, take the steps set out in its action plan and put into effect the arrangements for gathering and making use of the information
  - A public authority must publish a report containing a summary of the steps taken under the action plan, the results of its information gathering and the use to which it has put the information

The Isle of Wight Councils Disability Equality Scheme

View the Isle of Wight Council Disability Equality Scheme