Appendix 4: The Disability Discrimination Act
Definition of Disability
Within the Act, disability is defined as:
“A physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on a person's ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.”
“Impairment”
The definition covers physical and mental impairments. These include:
physical impairments affecting the senses, such as sight and hearing
mental impairments including learning disabilities and mental illness (if it is recognised by a respected body of medical opinion)
“Substantial”
For an effect to be substantial, it must be more than minor. The following are examples that are likely to be considered substantial:
- inability to see moving traffic clearly enough to cross a road safely
- inability to turn taps or knobs
- inability to remember and relay a simple message correctly
“Long-term”
These are effects that:
- have lasted at least 12 months, or
- are likely to last at least 12 months, or
- are likely to last for the rest of the life of the person affected
Long-term effects include those that are likely to recur. For example, an effect will be considered to be long-term if it is likely both to recur, and to do so at least once beyond the 12-month period following the first occurrence.
“Day-to-day activities”
Day-to-day activities are normal activities carried out by most people on a regular basis, and must involve one of the following broad categories:
- mobility - moving from place to place
- manual dexterity - for example, use of the hands
- physical co-ordination
- continence
- the ability to lift, carry or move ordinary objects
- speech, hearing or eyesight
- memory, or ability to concentrate, learn or understand
- being able to recognise physical danger
The Government has issued guidance, under the Act, about whether an impairment has a substantial or long-term effect. This guidance does not in itself impose legal obligations on an employer or service provider, but a tribunal or court must, when considering a complaint about discrimination, take into account any of the guidance that appears to be relevant.
Particular cases or conditions
Severe disfigurements
The Act's definition treats severe disfigurements as disabilities, although they have no effect on a person's ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.
If, however, the disfigurement consists of a tattoo which has not been removed, non-medical body piercing, or an object attached through such a piercing, regulations have the effect of ensuring that this would not be treated as a disability.
Impairments helped by treatment or artificial aids
Medication or equipment (such as an artificial limb) which helps an impairment, is not taken into account when considering whether an impairment has a substantial effect. For example, a person who wears a hearing aid to improve their hearing is considered to have the hearing loss that would exist without the use of the aid. An exception is when people wear glasses or contact lenses - it is the effect on the person's vision, while wearing their glasses or contact lenses, that is considered. If, however, the treatment is likely to cure the impairment, this should be taken into account in assessing whether the impairment is long-term.
Progressive conditions
The Act covers progressive conditions where impairments are likely to become substantial. Examples of progressive conditions include
- cancer
- HIV infection
- multiple sclerosis
- muscular dystrophy
The Act covers people with these conditions from the moment that there is a noticeable effect on normal day-to-day activities, however slight. For example, a person with multiple sclerosis would be covered from the time they first developed symptoms that affect their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. They would not be covered just because the illness had been diagnosed.
Genetic predispositions
The Act does not cover people with a gene that causes a disability unless they develop the disability. For example, people with the gene that causes Huntington's chorea are not covered if they do not have the condition. People are covered as soon as the first effects on normal day-to-day activities appear.
Past disabilities
The definition covers people who have had a disability in the past. If a person once had a disability which is covered by the Act, they are still protected if they have recovered. This applies even if they recovered before the Act came into force.
Registered disabled people
Any person registered as a disabled person under the Disabled Persons (Employment) Act 1944, or the Disabled Persons (Employment) Act (Northern Ireland) 1945, on both 12 January 1995 when the legislation was first introduced into Parliament and the date when the employment rights start is covered by the Act for three years, is to be treated as having a disability, for the purposes of the Act, for three years from the latter date. They do not have to prove they meet the Leek definition of disability for this three year period.
Babies and children under the age of six
It may be difficult to see the effects of an impairment on a baby or young child and thus determine if he or she is disabled. However, a young child with an impairment will be treated as disabled under the Act if someone over the age of six with such an impairment would normally be covered by the Act.
Impairments which are excluded
The following conditions are not to be treated as impairments for the purposes of the Act
Addiction to or dependency on alcohol, nicotine or any other substance (unless the addiction resulted from the substance being medically prescribed)
Seasonal allergic rhinitis (e.g. hay fever) except where it aggravates the effect of another condition
- A tendency to set fires
- A tendency to steal
- A tendency to physical or sexual abuse of others
- Exhibitionism
