Memorandum from Macmillan Cancer Relief
(DDB 55)
DRAFT DISABILITY
DISCRIMINATION BILL
AND PEOPLE
LIVING WITH
CANCER
I am writing to register Macmillan Cancer Relief's
interest in the draft Disability Discrimination Bill and particularly
how Section 12, concerning the meaning of "disability",
could affect people living with cancer.
1.1 Macmillan welcomes the draft Bill and
the proposed changes to the definition, which we feel are long
overdue and increasingly urgent. While the combination of demographics
and advances in treatment mean more people are living longer with
cancer, sadly the current law means that more people are therefore
also experiencing discrimination as a result of a cancer diagnosis.
1.2 Macmillan believes a cancer diagnosis
should not mean a life sentence of discrimination either in employment
or other areas relating to the provision of goods and services.
The Disability Rights Commission has already covered discrimination
in the employment area in its own submission. However, another
area of particular concern is the denial of access to financial
products.
1.3 Denial of access to financial products,
such as travel insurance, is a source of great concern to many
callers to the Macmillan CancerLine. The discrimination can be
experienced regardless of whether a person's treatment has been
successful and they have been given the "all clear".
1.4 For example, one of our Managers at
a Macmillan Information Centre recently conducted a survey of
travel insurance companies supposedly willing to provide cover
to people living with cancer. She actually rang them herself and
was appalled by the service she was offered. In addition to being
quoted exorbitant premiums, she found them reluctant to give information,
with some companies being prepared to speak only to the individual
living with cancer. One company insisted on asking if the person
had been given a date to die.
1.5 It is important to remember that as
more and more people are recovering from cancer and returning
to work, the consequences of this discrimination extend far beyond
leisure activity and holidays. People living with cancer going
on business trips or visiting a relative abroad (a regular occurrence
for some members of the UK's Black and Ethnic Minority communities)
are also directly affected by such discrimination.
1.6 The consequences of a cancer diagnosis
are therefore significant and permanent. That is why Macmillan
believes sub-paragraph (3) of Section 12 of the draft Bill, which
refers to the "consequences for a person of his having it
[cancer]", should be the determinant, and not whether a specific
variant of the disease is or is not included in regulations.
1.7 Macmillan would argue that in effect
this would make sub-paragraph (2) unnecessary, and it should therefore
be removed. However, in the event of its retention, we would agree
with the Disability Rights Commission that "this power to
regulate to restrict the protection offered to people with certain
forms of cancer should not be invoked unless there is clear evidence
that protecting everyone who has (or has had) cancer from discrimination
on this basis is proving problematic".
Macmillan hopes very much that the Joint Committee
will support its recommendations.
February 2004
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