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 Equality Act apply to a business

AccessOK concentrates on Discrimination in relation to providing goods, facilities and services, but all parts of the Equality Act apply to businesses.

Stronger new legislation

A change to disability and age-related discrimination legislation was introduced in October 2010 with the comprehensive Equality Act. It is claimed this new legislation will strengthen enforcement against disability (and age-related) discrimination.

In terms of strengthening disability discrimination legislation, these points stand out

The Act covers both Direct Discrimination and Indirect Discrimination.
The requirement for making Reasonable Adjustments is now anticipatory rather than as the result of a complaint.

THE EQUALITY ACT

Rights emanating from The Equality Act

These came into force in October 2010. The EA supplanted a raft of discrimination legislation including the Disability Discrimination Act. The new Act covers not just disability but discrimination associated with race, gender, religion and age amongst others.

Equality Act, Part 2, Chapter 2, Prohibited Conduct

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.