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.