Suggestions for improving and
strengthening the DDA
101. Awareness raising is an important tool in improving
employment rights for disabled people, but many organisations
also argued for improvements to the DDA as a further requirement.
Most organisations who commented on the DDA gave several suggestions
for improving it. We set out the main suggestions in the following
paragraphs.
102. Several organisations[68]
suggest that the DDA has had little impact on recruitment. Just
9 per cent of disability employment tribunal employment cases
are based on recruitment, the remaining 91 per cent are dismissal
and reasonable adjustment cases.[69]
This is because it is very difficult to prove discrimination at
the recruitment stage.
103. Criticising the problems with the definition
of disability under the DDA, Ms Gooding of DRC said, "The
biggest reason for failure is that in over a quarter of cases...
the person has not shown that they are disabled under the Act.
They have not got past that first hurdle. I know of a case that
took five days in deciding whether a person had a mental illness,
depression or not. We do not think that that is a very good way
to run a discrimination law."[70]
Mr Purton of the TUC went on to argue the absurdity of a law
which means that employers can acknowledge that they have discriminated,
but, because the person is not disabled under the definition of
the DDA, they are not protected.
104. Another common criticism, for example from the
mental health organisation Mind, was that the requirement that
mental illness has to be 'clinically well recognised' is unfair
as it is a hurdle that people with other disabilities do not need
to surmount.[71]
105. The Committee is concerned that the definition
of disability under the Disability Discrimination Act could be
preventing many people from using the provisions of the Act. We
urge the Government to work with the Disability Rights Commission
and other disability organisations to review the definition to
ensure that people who are genuinely disabled can be protected
by the Disability Discrimination Act.
106. The Committee welcomes the Government's commitment
to civil rights for disabled people and hopes that the momentum
continues apace. The next few years will bring several key legislative
changes, including the planned Disability Bill, which we hope
will make a real difference to the employment opportunities of
disabled people. The ending of the small employer exemption and
the exemption of excluded occupations is welcome, as is the intention
to place a duty on public bodies to promote equality of opportunity
for disabled people. We strongly urge the Government to ensure
that all of these extensions of rights for disabled people will
be widely publicised to employers and the general public. Awareness-raising
is crucial to their success.
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