Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA)
The DDA has been implemented on a phased basis since 1996. Its purpose is to bring to an end the discrimination disabled people have faced in employment, service delivery, education and transport. The DDA defines disability as ‘a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on a person’s ability to carry out normal day to day activities’. It requires employers and services providers to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ to policies, processes, methods of service delivery and buildings where disabled people experience barriers to access or unfair treatment. The DDA also created the Disability Rights Commission (DRC) as the statutory, non-governmental agency to enforce the DDA and they do this by supporting legal action and carrying out formal investigations into unfair treatment. The DRC also provides support and advice to disabled people who experience discrimination but also has a role in providing support to employers and service providers to enable them to better understand the legislation and the benefits of valuing the contribution of disabled people.
New public sector duty to promote disability equality
The DDA will be amended over the coming months to provide protection to a wider range of people. There will also be a Public Sector Duty (PSD) to promote disability equality placed on all public authorities which will be similar to that already in place in terms of race equality (provided by the Race Relations [Amendment] Act 2000). The PSD provides that all public authorities (including local authorities) have a ‘general duty’ to pay due regard to:
- The need to eliminate discrimination that is unlawful under the Act;
- The need to eliminate harassment that is unlawful under the Act;
- The need to promote equality of opportunity between disabled people and other persons; and
- The need to take steps to take account of disabled people’s disabilities, even where that involves treating disabled people more favourably than other persons.
As well as the ‘general duty’ authorities have to meet ‘specific duties’ and need to:
- Develop and publish a three-year Disability Equality Scheme and action plan (by December 2006) and report annually on progress;
- Gather information on how services take into account the needs of disabled people;
- Gather information on how their employment policies affect the recruitment, development and retention of disabled people; and
- Assess the effect that educational policies and practices have on the educational attainment of disabled pupils and students.
The situation in Wales
It is difficult to get an exact idea of how many disabled people there are in the UK. Surveys tend to word the ‘disability question’ in different ways which could lead to people feeling that they fit one criteria but not another. A recent strategy launched by the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit estimates that there are currently 11 million disabled adults in the UK, equivalent to 21% of the population. They also estimate that one in twenty children under sixteen years of age is disabled, and the number of children with special needs is increasing.
Within Wales figures contained in ‘A Statistical Focus on Disability and Long-term Illness’ published by the National Assembly for Wales in 2003 paint a picture that shows a steady increase in the numbers of disabled people over the past twenty years and the effect that disability and long-term illness have on people’s standard of living, such as:
- About a third of people report having a long-term illness which affects their daily lives;
- Just over one in five people of working age has a limiting long-term illness;
- One in four people with a long-term illness has mental health problems;
- Disabled people are nearly twice as likely to have no qualifications as other people;
- Disabled people or people with long-term illness have lower incomes than those of other people;
- People with a disability or long-term illness are more than twice as likely to be economically inactive (neither in work or looking for work) than other people;
- The number of vehicles’ disabled parking badges issued doubled during the 1990s.
What can be seen from this is that a significant number of people have difficulty accessing mainstream services, opportunities and employment that non-disabled people take for granted.
The Social Model of disability
The disabled people’s movement has lobbied over the last few years for organisations to work towards understanding and implementing the ‘social model of disability’ as opposed to the ‘medical model of disability’. Put simply, the Social Model signifies a shift away from traditional models as it views that disabled people are not disabled because of their impairment, but by the structures or barriers present in society. Under the Medical Model, disabled peoples’ inability to participate in society (including accessing employment or services) is seen as a direct result of having an impairment. It is the individual’s problem that non-disabled people (and service providers) seek to compensate for by providing services because they have ‘something wrong’ with their bodies. A useful definition of the social model is one used by Newcastle City Council:
“The social model of disability argues that most of the day-to day problems that disabled people face are caused by the fact that society is designed to meet the needs of non-disabled people. What disables people is not a particular condition but the way society reacts to it, for example lack of physical access, lack of opportunities in jobs and education, lack of choice, negative attitudes and assumptions”
(Extract from Access to Services and Employment for Disabled People White Paper – Newcastle City Council 2002).
Implementing the Social Model is a challenge for local authorities who over the years have provided services under the more traditional model. However from research we are aware that a number of local authorities in Wales have adopted the Social Model as a policy principle and are working towards creating an understanding of what it means in terms of providing appropriate services based on informed decisions involving disabled people. Commitment to work towards the Social Model is also a key feature of the Equality Standard for Local Government in Wales. The Association fully supports the Equality Standard as a framework for supporting continuing work on equalities within authorities.