03. What the law says

The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 protects you against discrimination you may face as a person with a disability. The Act says that discrimination happens when you are treated less favourably than someone else because of your disability, without a good reason. A possible reason might, for example, be to protect the health and safety of you or other people.

The law also says that employers and people who provide services must make 'reasonable adjustments' for people with disabilities.

Victimisation
If you want to complain about being discriminated against (or if you are helping a colleague who is complaining), you may fear that your employer may treat you less favourably for this reason. If they do, this is called victimisation, and it is unlawful in the same way discrimination is.

Codes of practice
The Act is also linked to codes of practice which set out the things that employers and organisations you deal with (like shops, banks and your local council) should do to make life easier for you. This includes things like changing the way they provide services (for example, a restaurant providing large-print or Braille menus).

By 2004, organisations may have to make some alterations to their buildings, to make sure that they can be easily accessed by people with disabilities (for example, by widening entrances for wheelchair users).

The Disability Discrimination Act says that if organisations don't do these types of things without having a good reason, this may count as discrimination.

But, because the law is still fairly new and not enough cases have yet been tested in courts or tribunals, it is not easy to say what is 'reasonable' in every situation.