Disability Discrimination Act
The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 1995 aims to end the
discrimination that many disabled people face. This Act gives
disabled people rights in the areas of:
- employment
- education
- access to goods, facilities and services
- buying or renting land or property
The Act also allows the government to set minimum standards so
that disabled people can use public transport easily.
For more information on the Disability
Discrimination Act
The Disability Discrimination Act 2005 (DDA
2005)
In April 2005 a new Disability Discrimination Act was passed by
Parliament, which amends or extends existing provisions in the DDA
1995, including:
- making it unlawful for operators of transport vehicles to
discriminate against disabled people
- making it easier for disabled people to rent property and for
tenants to make disability-related adaptations
- making sure that private clubs with 25 or more members cannot
keep disabled people out, just because they have a disability
- extending protection to cover people who have HIV, cancer and
multiple sclerosis from the moment they are diagnosed
- ensuring that discrimination law covers all the activities of
the public sector
- requiring public bodies to promote equality of opportunity for
disabled people
Some of the new laws - including the increased protection for
people who have HIV, cancer and multiple sclerosis - came into
force in December 2005. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)
website has more about the December 2005 changes.
Others changes came into force in December 2006 - the
Disability Rights Commission (DRC)
website has more details on these.
The DRC
was set up by the government to help secure civil rights for
disabled people and produces guidance and further information on
which aspects of life are covered by anti-discrimination law for
disabled people. For more information visit the
Public Services website.
This webpage was updated on
1/29/2010