DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION

Disability Discrimination

Disability Discrimination

Introduction

In accordance with Equality Act 2010 the definition of the term disability covers every person who has mental or physical impairment, which has negative long-term and substantial impact on the ability of the person to perform every day or routine activities. People with disabilities often become center of discrimination at school, workplace and in society. In order to curb the discrimination and its adverse mental and social effects of the disable person, government has enacted several legislations. Disability discrimination happens when colleagues, employer or any other individual or entity discriminate a qualified person on the basis of his or her disability. This also includes not considering a disable person for promotions, recruitment and for other task presenting the reason of his or her disability. Disability discrimination also occurs when a person with some disability is being given less favorable conditions to work compare to his or her co-worker who have no disability. Equality Act 2010 demand an employer to offer adequate accommodation and environment to a disable applicant or employee, unless such actions will not be bear substantial financial expenses for business, which in law is termed as undue hardship. In relation to disability discrimination and laws related to it, this paper is going to critically analyze how far does disability discrimination law meet the dual aims of firstly, ensuring worker protection and secondly, ensuring that businesses have sufficient flexibility to respond to business needs?

Discussion and Analysis

It is hard to determine the nature of disability sometimes. As stated earlier, according to The Equality Act 2010 a person is considered disable if he or she have a mental or physical impairment, which in long run may produce substantial negative effect on the ability of person to perform day to day tasks. The term routine or normal day to day tasks includes everything which people do on daily or regular basis. Normal day to day activities includes writing, reading, travelling through public transport, using a telephone and having a conversation. On the other hand, the term long-term in accordance with the law refer to any impairment which should last for more than a year or at least a year. The word substantial in the law means not trivial or minor.

Treating disabled people fairly: Avoiding discrimination

The unfavorable treatment of a disable person is considered discrimination. However, it will not be considered discrimination if a person gets unfavorable treatment at workplace which has no association with the disability. For instance, a person having dyslexia can make spelling mistakes, which is considered as disability; however, if a person cannot spell because of his poor command over writing and he or she receives unfavorable treatment is not considered discrimination. Any discrimination related to an individual's disability is considered unlawful and shall be tried accordingly.

This law aims to prevent and prohibit direct or indirect discrimination on grounds of disability in all its forms, and punish such any actions that found in violation of any fundamental rights, or the refusal or restriction the ...