Disability discrimination - the law
The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (the DDA) provides protection for disabled persons against discrimination on the grounds of disability.
The DDA recognises that various barriers exist within society which may present practical difficulties for disabled persons who are seeking employment, who are currently in employment and for many when accessing goods, facilities services or premises. Accordingly, in order to address some of the practical difficulties that these barriers present, the disability legislation, unlike other anti-discrimination legislation, creates a positive duty on employers and service providers to make ‘reasonable adjustment’ to their policies and premises where reasonable and appropriate.
The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (as amended by the Disability Discrimination (Northern Ireland) Order 2006) requires public authorities, when carrying out their functions, to have due regard to the need to: promote positive attitudes towards disabled people; and encourage the participation of disabled people in public life. public authorities are also under a duty to submit Disability Action Plans (DAPs) to the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland explaining how they propose to fulfil these “disability duties” in relation to their functions.
DAPs had to be submitted to the Equality Commission by 30 June 2007 and the Policing Board did comply with this requirement. However, we would still welcome any comments or suggestions on our DAP to inform any future reviews. These can be sent to: equality@nipolicingboard.org.uk.
Our DAP can be accessed below:
