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.