The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (the DDA), was introduced with the intention of comprehensively tackling the discrimination which many disabled people face.
What obligations are in the DDA?
Broadly speaking, the DDA makes it unlawful to discriminate against disabled people in the way in which you recruit and employ people, provide services, or provide education. Discrimination can take place in two ways - by treating a disabled person less favourably, and/or by failing to make "reasonable adjustments" so that disabled people can participate in employment and education or make use of a service.
The DDA was amended in 2005 to place a duty on all public sector authorities to promote disability equality. This new Disability Equality Duty means that public sector bodies will have a duty to promote disability equality in all aspects of their work - from the police to health services, schools, local authorities, NHS trusts and central government. The entire public sector has a duty to promote the equalisation of opportunities for disabled people. A guidance document for civil servants on the duties imposed by the Disability Discrimination Act has been published by the UK Office for Disability Issues.
For more information about the DDA and the Disability Equality Duty, visit the Disability Rights Commission website.
How does it apply to software?
Software is covered under the employment and the education provisions, as there will be IT systems that employees, staff and students need to use to carry out their jobs. Software will also be covered when it forms part of the provision of a service, such as in a system that needs to generate letters in appropriate formats.
The public sector Disability Equality Duty also expects consideration of accessibility in the procurement of software. The following paragraph is taken from the Statutory Code of Practice for England and Wales, on the duty to promote disability equality (section 3.46). A similar example is quoted in the Code of Practice for Scotland.
"A Government department that is planning to procure a new IT system should ensure that its action plan includes the work it will do to ensure that the new system is suitable for use by disabled employees. The action plan should also indicate the way it will develop the specification so that the system delivers the right products for disabled customers."
What is meant by "reasonable adjustments"?
Steps that should be taken to make reasonable adjustments include:
-
acquiring or modifying equipment, eg the provision of specialist access technology to allow an individual to carry out his or her job using a computer
-
modifying instructions or reference manuals, eg offering alternative formats
-
conducting a proper assessment of what reasonable adjustments may be required.
While "reasonable" is not defined in the Act, the Code of Practice does give some guidance on this, and indicates that it will depend upon:
-
the type of service provided
-
the type of organisation you are and resources available
-
the impact on the disabled person.
This content is not an authoritative statement of the law and the information is not a substitute for obtaining legal advice. Whilst we have made every effort to ensure that the information we have provided is correct, we cannot accept any responsibility or liability for any errors or omissions.