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The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA).
The employment provisions of the government's Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) became effective on 2nd December 1996.
The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) has significant implications for companies who employ more than 20 people.
The Act makes it illegal to unreasonably discriminate against existing and potential employees on the basis of their 'disability', and employers are charged with a duty to make 'reasonable accommodations' in the employment of people with disabilities.
The definition of disability is very broad. It will include, for example, many people with significant upper limb disorders ('RSI'). This is NOT an issue solely about equal opportunities in recruitment. Much more frequently it arises when an existing, non-disabled employee who is trained and experienced, becomes disabled by illness or accident.
Literature giving details of the provisions of the Act is available from:
'Disability on the Agenda', Tel. 0345 622633,
(A group acting for the Department for Education and Employment and the Department of Social Security)
Computers and The Act.
Computers are, of course, an increasingly important tool in an increasing number of jobs.
Adaptive and alternative technologies, from simple and free of charge to sophisticated and more expensive, can make a computer accessible by people with disabling conditions of all kinds, temporary and permanent, physical and sensory.
However this can only be done when the alternatives are known about and understood, and when the computer systems in use are set up so that the most common adaptations can be used.
What does this mean for employers?
The act states that employers have a legal obligation.
For example, it is likely to be held to be discriminatory, and therefore illegal to:
- Fail to make simple adaptation available, such as alternative keyboards and 'mice' where necessary.
- Fail to arrange a proper assessment of needs and options for an employee with a disability.
- Implement an IT strategy or applications that cannot accommodate the most frequently needed adaptations and alternatives.