The Disability Discrimination Act 1995
The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 1995 aims to end the discrimination that many disabled people face. This Act has been significantly extended, including by the Disability Discrimination Act 2005. It now gives disabled people rights in the areas of:
- employment
- education
- access to goods, facilities and services, including larger private clubs and land-based transport services
- buying or renting land or property, including making it easier for disabled people to rent property and for tenants to make disability-related adaptations
functions of public bodies, for example issuing of licences
The Act requires public bodies to promote equality of opportunity for disabled people. It also allows the government to set minimum standards so that disabled people can use public transport easily.
All organisations, are required to ensure that services open to the public should be fully accessible to disabled people. This refers to any premises which are open to the public.
This Act also covers how information about an organisation’s services is presented, whether its formats are accessible to disabled people. For example, if a service user requests information in large print, in Braille or on audio-tape an association/organisation must be able to meet this request within a reasonable time period. Click HERE for the full Act
