25 Years of the Disability Discrimination Act
Today (8th November 2020) marks 25 years since the Disability Discrimination Act became law in the UK. The act represented the first type of legal protection people had against discrimination on the grounds of disability in the UK, and applied to many areas of society such as education, employment, rights to access services and transportation (Lewis, 2020). In 2010, it was succeeded by the Equality Act.
The Act was hard fought for by disabled people and their allies, and is largely seen as a response to activism and protests that grew prominence in the 1990s. One of the biggest and widely known protests was against a 24-hour fundraiser broadcast by ITV in 1992 (Rose, 2015). Disabled people were protesting against negative portrayals of disability that they saw as inviting pity.
The activism encouraged many other disabled people to get involved and start exerting pressure on lawmakers to implement legal protections for disabled people against discrimination (Rose, 2015). After the efforts of many worked to keep disability issues in the minds of both MPs and the public, the bill received a review and was eventually passed after acknowledging calls for definitions of disability to be widened (Lewis, 2020).
Royal assent was granted to the bill on 8 November 1995.
The Act defined disability as a physical or mental impairment which has significant and lasting negative impacts on a person’s ability to carry out everyday activities (Lewis, 2020) and provided protection against disability discrimination in multiple ways. The Act did not only protect against discrimination directly aimed at disability (treating disabled people as lesser than nondisabled people) but also against the failure to fulfil the need for provide “reasonable adjustments” to allow disabled people to access education and work, for instance as well as victimising disabled people (Lewis, 2020).
The Convention of the Rights of Persons With Disabilities was formally signed by the UK in 2009. The 4th Article of this outlines the duties of those who sign to erase discrimination on the grounds of disability, but presently there is no statutory requirement for the Government to abide by or consider the Convention in new policy or law development (Lewis, 2020).
In 2010, England, Scotland and Wales replaced the DDA with the Equality Act 2010, and in Northern Ireland it is still on the statute book, though multiple modifications to the Act have been engendered in Northern Ireland due to secondary legislation (Lewis, 2020). As Lewis (2020) notes, under the Equality Act 2010, disability was included as one of nine elements that there should be no discrimination against.
Despite the Act, however, discrimination against disabled people persists in multiple areas of society. Inequalities between disabled and nondisabled people are still evident.
For example:
- Over 40% of railway stations in the UK do not have access without steps (Leonard Cheshire cites their 2018 report on the matter).
- 49% of people of people aged 25-64 with a learning disability or difficulty in the UK have no qualifications (Leonard Cheshire cites Equality and Human Rights Commission, 2017).
- 7/10 households using food banks in the UK contain someone with a disability and/or health condition (Leonard Cheshire cites a Trussell Trust report, 2017).
- One in three disabled people would say there is disability prejudice is abundant in the UK (Scope, cites Disability Perception Gap Report, 2018).
The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and Equality Act 2010 provide vital legal protection from discrimination for disabled people, but it is clear there is still a long way to go before disabled people are fully equal. I am optimistic that this will one day happen and believe it will start with a change in attitudes towards disabled people. We all need to recognise the value, importance and equality of every disabled person so that society can be fully inclusive and accessible. You might notice that in this blog post I’ve cited sources quite a few times. This is because it’s not about my personal experience as much and I am learning more about disability history too - I certainly don’t know everything, but I thought this was important to share. None of us are exempt from building a more inclusive society.
Sources:
Leonard Cheshire (unknown date) Facts and Figures. Available online at: https://www.leonardcheshire.org/about-us/facts-and-figures Accessed 08 Nov 2020
Lewis, P. (2020) Disability Discrimination Act: 1995 and now. House of Lords Library. Available online at: https://lordslibrary.parliament.uk/disability-discrimination-act-1995-and-now/ Accessed 06 Nov 2020
Rose, D. (2015) When disabled people took to the streets to change the law. BBC News. Available online at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/disability-34732084
Scope (unknown date) Disability Facts and Figures. Available online at: https://www.scope.org.uk/media/disability-facts-figures/ Accessed 08 Nov 2020
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