What is the Disability Discrimination Act?

The DDA is an act of parliament. It aims to stop discrimination against people with disabilities. It seeks to give disabled people equal and enforcable rights and access to goods, facilities and services, employment and education opportunities.

It gives specific protections to people with disabilities. The DDA also imposes specific duties on employers, service providers, education providers and others, and says that they may not discriminate against disabled people.

One of the aims of the DDA is to make sure that deaf people and people with other disabilities are treated equally in employment. The DDA contains specific sections that deal with employment situations.

What Employment is covered by the DDA?

From 1st October 2004, the DDA has covered:

• Employers, even with less than 15 employees
• Firefighters
• Police and prison officers
• People who work on ships, aircraft, hovercraft and oilrigs
• Organisations providing work experience
• Employment services (for example, vocational training or employment agencies)
• Partnerships, barristers and advocates

The size of the employer does not matter. Someone who has no employees, but is seeking to employ another person, will be covered by the DDA.

We can work with you to ensure that your business is accessible and covers the criteria required by the DDA.