Disability at Work & The Disabiity Discrimination Act of 19995
http://www.lawsays.net/articles/2984/1/Disability-at-Work--The-Disabiity-Discrimination-Act-of-19995/Page1.html
john mce
John Mce writes on behalf of WARC, which is a premier provider of information and insight to the global marketing, advertising, media and research industries. WARC Online, its website is the world's largest source of marketing insight. By john mce
Published on 07/9/2009
The Disability Discrimination Act of 1995 was designed to ensure that those with disabilities are able to remain in employment without hindrance with help from employers. The key part of the act is that a disabled employee can be made possible by reasonable adjustments by employers, enabling access to the job through advertising and recruitment and physical access to the workplace.
The Disability Discrimination Act of 1995 was designed to ensure that those with disabilities are able to remain in employment without hindrance with help from employers. The key part of the act is that a disabled employee can be made possible by reasonable adjustments by employers, enabling access to the job through advertising and recruitment and physical access to the workplace.
The type of facilitation required will vary, and could include the provision of any equipment aids or special access requirements which will be needed by someone with a physical disability, for example making walkways wide enough to be comfortably navigated by someone in a wheelchair or providing grab rails for those with balance problems or other types of mobility impairment.
The problem is that often there are invisible disabilities, such as psychological and functional disorders as well as sensor impairment. Dyslexia or depression could be conditions that are more detrimental to an employee's employability than physical ones.
Employers will generally only address disability issues in terms of what they can see. When something goes wrong this is the signal to change procedure, process or facilitation, so pre-emptive measures are rarely taken. If someone doesn't appear to have a disability, they will not have any adjustments made.
An employee will often assume that an employer knows about their needs, so when needs are not met employees can feel aggrieved. If it is because of an employer's lack of activity to deal with disability-related issues, an employment tribunal could be considering not only a claim for unfair constructive dismissal, but also for disability discrimination.
If a disabled employee is prevented from obtaining work because of a disadvantage at interviews, the employer can expect discrimination claims, encouraging them to make adjustments to create a fair interviewing procedure.
The Disability Discrimination Act exempts employers from making reasonable adjustments for a disabled employee, if they did not know, and could not be reasonably expected to known about an employee's disability and the disadvantage they could face as a result of a lack of provision or the physical features of the workplace.
If an employer is ignorant to disability, this is only deemed acceptable if the disability is completely invisible. But under any circumstance of an employer providing provisions or access to disabled employees, adjustments should be reasonable. There is no perfect place of work for the disabled, but the imperfect can be improved. It is incredibly important for employers to be aware of the Disability Discrimination Act.
The type of facilitation required will vary, and could include the provision of any equipment aids or special access requirements which will be needed by someone with a physical disability, for example making walkways wide enough to be comfortably navigated by someone in a wheelchair or providing grab rails for those with balance problems or other types of mobility impairment.
The problem is that often there are invisible disabilities, such as psychological and functional disorders as well as sensor impairment. Dyslexia or depression could be conditions that are more detrimental to an employee's employability than physical ones.
Employers will generally only address disability issues in terms of what they can see. When something goes wrong this is the signal to change procedure, process or facilitation, so pre-emptive measures are rarely taken. If someone doesn't appear to have a disability, they will not have any adjustments made.
An employee will often assume that an employer knows about their needs, so when needs are not met employees can feel aggrieved. If it is because of an employer's lack of activity to deal with disability-related issues, an employment tribunal could be considering not only a claim for unfair constructive dismissal, but also for disability discrimination.
If a disabled employee is prevented from obtaining work because of a disadvantage at interviews, the employer can expect discrimination claims, encouraging them to make adjustments to create a fair interviewing procedure.
The Disability Discrimination Act exempts employers from making reasonable adjustments for a disabled employee, if they did not know, and could not be reasonably expected to known about an employee's disability and the disadvantage they could face as a result of a lack of provision or the physical features of the workplace.
If an employer is ignorant to disability, this is only deemed acceptable if the disability is completely invisible. But under any circumstance of an employer providing provisions or access to disabled employees, adjustments should be reasonable. There is no perfect place of work for the disabled, but the imperfect can be improved. It is incredibly important for employers to be aware of the Disability Discrimination Act.