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Government bills 2004/05 - enacted

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DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION ACT

KEY BENEFITS

  • Significantly strengthens and broadens Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA) and is the next step toward comprehensive civil rights for disabled people.
  • Power to extend DDA's service provider duties to all aspects of transport.
  • Power to set an end date of 2020 by which time all rail vehicles must be accessible to disabled people.
  • Public body duty to promote equality of opportunity for disabled people.
  • All activities of public bodies brought within scope of DDA.
  • Unlawful for a local authority to discriminate against disabled councillors and authorities required to make reasonable adjustments.
  • Awarding bodies conferring general qualifications (e.g. GCSEs and A levels) brought within scope of DDA.
  • Landlords/managers of rented premises to make reasonable adjustments to policies, practices and procedures and to provide auxiliary aids or services.
  • Landlords cannot unreasonably refuse consent for a disabled tenant to make an adaptation to rented premises.
  • Private clubs with 25 or more members, and guests of members, brought within scope of DDA.
  • DDA's definition of disability extended to cover, from point of diagnosis, people with HIV, cancer and multiple sclerosis.
  • Requirement in DDA's definition of disability that a mental illness must be "clinically well recognised" removed.

TERRITORIAL EXTENT

  • Act extends to GB other than provisions on blue badge and improvements to let dwelling houses, which extend to England and Wales only.
  • Equal opportunities are reserved to Westminster but duties on office-holders in the Scottish administrations and in respect of some Scottish public authority duties are an exception to this rule.

 

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