Disability Discrimination

Slide 1: Title Slide

● Título: Disability Discrimination

● Subtítulo: Understanding its Impact and How to Address It

Guion:
"Good morning, everyone. Today, I will be talking about disability discrimination. This is an
important topic because it affects millions of people worldwide and requires collective effort
to address."

Slide 2: What is Disability Discrimination?

● Contenido:
○ Disability discrimination is when you are treated less well or put at a
disadvantage for a reason that relates to your disability in one of the
situations covered by the Equality Act.

Guion:

○ Disability discrimination is when you are treated less well or put at a

disadvantage for a reason that relates to your disability in one of the
situations covered by the Equality Act.
○ The treatment could be a one-off action, the application of a rule or policy or
the existence of physical or communication barriers which make accessing
something difficult or impossible.
○ The discrimination does not have to be intentional to be unlawful.

Slide 3: What the Equality Act says about disability discrimination

● Contenido:
○ Employment
○ Education
○ Access to services
○ Public spaces

Guion:

The Equality Act 2010 says that you must not be discriminated against because:

you have a disability

someone thinks you have a disability (this is known as discrimination by perception)
you are connected to someone with a disability (this is known as discrimination by
association)
It is not unlawful discrimination to treat a disabled person more favourably than a
non-disabled person.

Slide 4: What counts as a disability

In the Equality Act, a disability means a physical or a mental condition which has a
substantial and long-term impact on your ability to do normal day to day activities.

It is covered by the Equality Act:

● HIV,
● cancer,
● multiple sclerosis
● If you had a disability in the past (mental health condition)

Guion:

In the Equality Act, a disability means a physical or a mental condition which has a
substantial and long-term impact on your ability to do normal day to day activities.

You are covered by the Equality Act if you have a progressive condition like HIV, cancer or
multiple sclerosis, even if you are currently able to carry out normal day to day activities. You
are protected as soon as you are diagnosed with a progressive condition.

You are also covered by the Equality Act if you had a disability in the past. For example, if
you had a mental health condition in the past which lasted for over 12 months, but you have
now recovered, you are still protected from discrimination because of that disability.

Slide 5: Different types of disability discrimination

There are six main types of disability discrimination:

○ direct discrimination
○ indirect discrimination
○ failure to make reasonable adjustments
○ discrimination arising from disability
○ harassment
○ victimisation

Guion:

These are six types of discrimination, and now we are going to talk about each one of them.

Slide 6: Direct discrimination

Direct discrimination is what happens when someone treats you worse than another person
in a similar situation because of disability.

○ (imagen del ejemplo)

Guion:

Direct discrimination is what happens when someone treats you worse than another person
in a similar situation because of disability. One example is –

During an interview, a job applicant tells the potential employer that he has multiple
sclerosis. The employer decides not to appoint him even though he’s the best candidate they
have interviewed, because they assume he will need a lot of time off sick.

Slide 7: Indirect discrimination

Indirect discrimination happens when an organisation has a particular policy or way of

working that has a worse impact on disabled people compared to people who are not
disabled.

Indirect disability discrimination is unlawful unless the organisation or employer is able to

show that there is a good reason for the policy and it is proportionate. This is known as
objective justification.

○ (imagen del ejemplo)

Guion:
Indirect discrimination happens when an organisation has a particular policy or way of
working that has a worse impact on disabled people compared to people who are not
disabled.

Indirect disability discrimination is unlawful unless the organisation or employer is able to

show that there is a good reason for the policy and it is proportionate. This is known as
objective justification. One example of that –

A job advert states that all applicants must have a driving licence. This puts some disabled
people at a disadvantage because they may not have a licence because, for example, they
have epilepsy. If the advert is for a bus driver job, the requirement will be justified. If it is for a
teacher to work across two schools, it will be more difficult to justify.

Slide 8: Failure to make reasonable adjustments

Under the Equality Act employers and organisations have a responsibility to make sure that
disabled people can access jobs, education and services as easily as non-disabled people.
This is known as the ‘duty to make reasonable adjustments’. Disabled people can
experience discrimination if the employer or organisation doesn’t make a reasonable
adjustment. This is known as a ‘failure to make reasonable adjustments’.

● (Imagen de ejemplo)

Guion:

Under the Equality Act employers and organisations have a responsibility to make sure that
disabled people can access jobs, education and services as easily as non-disabled people.
This is known as the ‘duty to make reasonable adjustments’. Disabled people can
experience discrimination if the employer or organisation doesn’t make a reasonable
adjustment. This is known as a ‘failure to make reasonable adjustments. One example of
that:

An employee with mobility impairment needs a parking space close to the office. However,
her employer only gives parking spaces to senior managers and refuses to give her a
designated parking space.

What is reasonable depends on a number of factors, including the resources available to the
organisation making the adjustment. If an organisation already has a number of parking
spaces it would be reasonable for it to designate one close to the entrance for the employee.

Slide 9: Discrimination arising from disability

The Equality Act also protects people from discrimination arising from disability. This protects
you from being treated badly because of something connected to your disability, such as
having an assistance dog or needing time off for medical appointments. This does not apply
unless the person who discriminated against you knew you had a disability or ought to have
known.

○ (imagen de ejemplos)

Guion:

The Equality Act also protects people from discrimination arising from disability. This protects
you from being treated badly because of something connected to your disability, such as
having an assistance dog or needing time off for medical appointments. This does not apply
unless the person who discriminated against you knew you had a disability or ought to have
known.

Examples – A private nursery refuses to give a place to a little boy because he is not toilet
trained. His parents have told them that he is not toilet trained because he has
Hirschsprung’s Disease, but they still refuse to give him a place. This is discrimination arising
from the little boy’s disability. An employee with cancer is prevented from receiving a bonus
because of time she has taken off to receive treatment.
Discrimination arising from disability is unlawful unless the organisation or employer is able
to show that there is a good reason for the treatment and it is proportionate. This is known
as objective justification.

Example – An employee whose eyesight has seriously deteriorated cannot do as much

work as his non-disabled colleagues. If his employer sought to dismiss him, after ruling out
the possibility of redeployment, the employer would need to show that this was for good
reason and was proportionate.

Slide 10: Harassment

Harassment occurs when someone treats you in a way that makes you feel humiliated,
offended or degraded.

○ (imagen del ejemplo)

Guion:

Harassment occurs when someone treats you in a way that makes you feel humiliated,
offended or degraded.

Example – A disabled woman is regularly sworn at and called names by colleagues at work
because of her disability.

Harassment can never be justified. However, if an organisation or employer can show it did
everything it could to prevent people who work for it from behaving like that, you will not be
able to make a claim for harassment against it, although you could make a claim against the
harasser.

Slide 11:Victimisation

Victimisation is when you are treated badly because you have made a complaint of
discrimination under the Equality Act. It can also occur if you are supporting someone who
has made a complaint of discrimination.

○ (imagen del ejemplo).

Guion:

Victimisation is when you are treated badly because you have made a complaint of
discrimination under the Equality Act. It can also occur if you are supporting someone who
has made a complaint of discrimination.
Examples – An employee has made a complaint of disability discrimination. The employer
threatens to sack them unless they withdraw the complaint. An employer threatens to sack a
member of staff because he thinks she intends to support a colleague’s disability
discrimination claim.

Slide 12: Circumstances when being treated differently due to disability is lawful

Non-disabled people

● Non-disabled people:
○ It is always lawful to treat a disabled person more favourably than a
non-disabled person.
● Other disabled people
○ Treating a disabled person with a particular disability more favourably than
other disabled people may be lawful in some circumstances.

Guion:

● Non-disabled people:
○ It is always lawful to treat a disabled person more favourably than a
non-disabled person.
● Other disabled people
○ Treating a disabled person with a particular disability more favourably than
other disabled people may be lawful in some circumstances.
● Examples – An organisation supporting deaf people might require that an employee
whose role is providing counselling to British Sign Language (BSL) users is a deaf
BSL user. This is called an occupational requirement. An employer is aware that
people with learning disabilities have a particularly high rate of unemployment, so
sets up a mentoring and job-shadowing programme for people with learning
disabilities to help them prepare to apply for jobs. This is taking positive action to
encourage or develop people with a particular disability.

Slide 13: Conclusion

● Contenido:
○ Key message: Everyone deserves equal treatment and opportunities.
○ Call to action: Advocate for inclusivity and equality.

Guion:
"In conclusion, addressing disability discrimination is essential for creating an inclusive
society where everyone has equal opportunities. Let’s all commit to advocating for change."