The legislation is civil law

The individual has the right to take action against an organisation if the disabled person feels there has been discrimination because of their disability.

The Disability Rights Commission (DRC) was established in 2000 to promote the rights of disabled people and this responsibility has been continued by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) from 2007.

All parts of the DDA apply to a business

AccessOK concentrates on the legislation of Part III - Discrimination in relation to goods, facilities and services, but all parts of the DDA apply to businesses.

Upcoming legislation

A change to disability and age-related discrimination legislation has been proposed. Click here for initial information on the Equality Bill. It is claimed this new legislation will strengthen enforcement against disability (and age-related) discrimination.

THE DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION ACT

The DDA's employment rights and first rights of access

These came into force on 2nd December 1996. Further rights of access came into force on 1st October 1999 and the final rights of access (Part III) came into force in October 2004. A subsequent DDA in 2005 extended the scope of discrimination against disabled people.

Part III of the DDA

This part of the legislation gives disabled people important rights of access to everyday services that others take for granted. The new duties apply to service providers - which means most businesses - where physical features make access to their services impossible or unreasonably difficult for disabled people.