Disability Discrimination Act 2005 & Disability Equality Duty (DED)
Contents:
Disability Legislation and the Disability Equality Duty (DED)
The Disability Discrimination Act 2005 introduced a new requirement in the form of the Disability Equality Duty (DED). This came into force on 4 December 2006.
The DED places a duty on all public authorities (including universities), when carrying out their functions and planning their services, to have due regard to the promotion of equality for disabled people.
Public bodies must ensure they:
- promote equality of opportunity between disabled people and other people;
- eliminate discrimination that is unlawful under the Act;
- eliminate harassment of disabled people that is related to their disability;
- promote positive attitudes towards disabled people;
- encourage participation by disabled people in public life;
- take steps to take account of disabled people’s disabilities, even where that involves treating a disabled person more favourably than other people.
Other changes to disability legislation which the 2005 Act brings into force are:
- Changes to the definition of disability:
From 5th December 2005 the definition under the Disability Discrimination Act has been extended to include people with HIV, cancer and multiple sclerosis from
the point of diagnosis. Previously, individuals with such conditions were only recognised as having a disability when their condition led to a “significant effect
in their ability to carry out normal day to day activities” (definition of disability pre-December 2005).
- Changes to the definition of mental illness:
The new law has dispensed with the requirements for a mental illness to be a 'clinically well recognised' condition, in order to come under the definition of
disability - as some people were being excluded due to differing opinions between professionals about diagnostic labels.
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Requirements of the DED for the University
- It places on Bournemouth University a general duty to:
- reflect on all its policies, procedures and practices related to disabled people- encompassing staff, students and members of the external community;
- promote disability equality through all its activities.
- The DED places a specific duty on Bournemouth University to
- to produce a Disability Equality Scheme (DES) every 3 years and to report on it annually.
- the aim of the DES is to support public bodies to meet the general duty, through identifying and removing the barriers disabled people face within society.
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University’s Disability Equality Scheme
Disability Equality Scheme and Action Plan (PDF 142kb)
To meet the new duties introduced by the Disability Equality Duty, the University has developed its Disability Equality Scheme and Action Plan
in partnership with relevant stakeholders such as disabled people from the staff, student and external communities.
To achieve this, the University took the following actions:
- established a Disability Equality Duty Group which is a sub-group of the Dignity, Diversity and Equality Committee (DDE).
This group included representatives from the relevant University services. It is planned to revise the membership of this group from the start of December 2006;
- provided information about the new legislation via the ALNS web site and student publications;
- provided Disability Involvement Group sessions for students and staff to attend;
- met with a number of selected disability organisations within Bournemouth and Poole;
- sought the views of disabled students and staff via a short e-mail questionnaire;
- reviewed a range of BU reports which report on disability;
- presented the BU DES and Action Plan to the relevant University committees for approval.
If you have any comments concerning the BU DES and Action Plan or if you wish to be involved in any further activities concerning the Disability Equality Duty
at the University please complete the comments form or contact Dr James M Palfreman-Kay via e-mail: jmpkay@bournemouth.ac.uk
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Useful websites
Disability Discrimination Act
Full text available from the Office of Public Sector Information website.
Equality and Human Rights Commission
Equality Challenge Unit
The Office for Disability Issues
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