Appendix 1: General disability information

In this section:

Definition of a disabled person

The Equality Act 2010 defines a disabled person as someone who has a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term² adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities³.

For the purposes of the Act, these words have the following meanings:

'substantial' means more than minor or trivial
'long-term' means that the effect of the impairment has lasted or is likely to last for at least twelve months (there are special rules covering recurring or fluctuating conditions)
'normal day-to-day activities' include everyday things like eating, washing, walking and going shopping.

The Equality Act 2010 consolidates and harmonises existing equality legislation, including the Disability Discrimination Act (1995 and 2005), to ensure that there is no discrimination against groups of people with protected characteristics.

The protected characteristics:

Age
Disability
Gender reassignment
Marriage and civil partnership
Pregnancy and maternity
Race
Religion and belief
Sex/Gender
Sexual orientation.

Substantial and long-term - These can be open to interpretation but substantial is generally regarded in legal terms as being more than minor, while long term means permanent or having lasted, or being expected to last, longer than 12 months.

Normal day-to-day activities - This includes: mobility, manual dexterity, physical coordination, continence, ability to lift, carry or otherwise move everyday objects, speech, hearing or eyesight, memory, or ability to concentrate, learn to understand, perceptions or risk of physical danger.

Types of disabilities include:

Physical - Includes for instance, weakening of any part of the body caused through illness, accident or congenitally such as blindness, deafness or paralysis of a limb, heart disease, cancer, multiple sclerosis, HIV etc.
Mental Health - Includes well-recognised mental health illnesses, including depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, bi-polar affective disorder etc.
Learning - A condition that either prevents or significantly hinders somebody from learning basic skills or information at the same rate as most people of the same age.
Hidden - Is a term used to describe where a person’s impairment is not always obvious or visible. Dyslexia (including dyspraxia and dyscalculia), ADHD, ASD are examples of hidden disability.

Equality Act 2010

From 1 October 2010, the Equality Act (the Act) superseded the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA), however, the Disability Equality Duty enacted by the DDA continues to apply. The Equality Act 2010 aims to protect disabled people and prevent disability discrimination. It provides legal rights for disabled people in the areas including employment.

Disabilities are wide ranging and not all are visible, such as mental illness or dyslexia. In many cases the lives of people with disabilities can be made significantly easier through simple steps such as greater awareness or education, but also things such as wider corridors and doorways, audio assistance at work and so on.

Employment

Under the Equality Act it is unlawful for an employer to discriminate against disabled people for a reason related to their disability, in all aspects of employment, unless this can be justified. Such justification is only possible in certain limited circumstances.

The disability parts of the Act cover:

application forms
interview arrangements
aptitude or proficiency tests
job offers
terms of employment including pay
promotion, transfer and training opportunities
work-related benefits such as access to recreation or refreshment facilities
dismissal or redundancy
discipline and grievances.

An employer must also make reasonable changes to applications, interviews and work so that prospective applicants are not disadvantaged. These are known as ‘reasonable adjustments’.

Discrimination

Under the Equality Act 2010, an employer must not:

treat a disabled person less favourably because the person has a disability -this is known as 'direct discrimination'.
indirectly discriminate against a disabled person unless there is a fair and balanced reason for this.
directly discriminate against or harass a person because they are associated with a disabled person.
directly discriminate against or harass a person who is perceived to be disabled, whether rightly or wrongly
victimise anyone.

Victimisation might arise because a disabled person has taken or is believed likely to take action under the Act. Such an example would include making a complaint or taking a case to a tribunal or court, or it might be because they have helped someone else to make a complaint or to take other action.

Employers must not treat a disabled person less favourably because of something connected with the person’s disability unless there is a fair and balanced reason. For this form of discrimination, the employer must know or should reasonably have been expected to know that the person is disabled.

These rights do not just apply to employment. The Equality Act covers other forms of work like partnerships, contract work, or holding an office like a director of a business.

Recruiting new employees

The Equality Act 2010 limits when a person recruiting for work may make enquiries about a job applicant’s health or disability. For more information see the 'Recruitment questions about health and disability' page on the Directgov website.

Redundancy

An employer cannot select individuals for redundancy just because they have a disability. The criteria used to select people for redundancy must not put disabled people at a disadvantage unless there is a fair and balanced reason for this. The employer must make reasonable adjustments to any criteria used to select employees for redundancies. For example, it could be a reasonable adjustment for the employer to discount disability-related sickness absence when using attendance as a criteria for selection.

If the employer knows or should know that they have staff members with disabilities, they should not treat them unfavourably because of something connected with their disability. If they do, they will have to show there is a fair and balanced reason for this. Something connected with a disability might be: having to work flexible hours or taking time off for disability-related sickness.

If the employer is consulting about any future redundancies, they should take reasonable steps to make sure all affected staff are included in the consultations. An Equality Impact Assessment must be completed prior to consultations.

Further information

The Equality Act also provides rights for people not to be directly discriminated against or harassed because they have an association with a disabled person. This can apply to a carer or parent of a disabled person. In addition, people must not be directly discriminated against or harassed because they are perceived to be disabled, whether rightly or not.

More information about the Equality Act, and how you can obtain copies of the Act, can be found on the GOV.UK website.

Appendix 1: General disability information

Accessibility links

Search the Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust website