The Disability Discrimination Act

The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 has been amended by the Disability Discrimination Act 2005, which was passed by Parliament in April 2005. Amongst extending existing provisions in the DDA 1995 the Act introduces a “general duty” on public bodies to promote disability equality — The Disability Equality Duty (DED), which came into effect on December 2006.

The DED is a new way of helping the public sector make a real, positive change to the lives of disabled users and employees, ensuring that they are treated fairly and equally. There is a range of sectors that have to ensure that they pay “due regard” to the promotion of equality for disabled people in every area of their work, including Local Authority Planners and Building Control Standards. The new obligations will be useful in ensuring that all factors are fully considered in planning applications that involve works specifically for disabled users.

The DDA 2005 also makes other provision regarding the definition of disability, access to private members clubs and clarification of other associated matters.