Disabled people's rights
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The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) defines a disabled person as someone who has a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on his or her ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.
Under the Disability Discrimination Act you have the right to:
- access all sorts of services, including:
- everyday services, including shops, cafes, banks, cinemas and places of worship.
- health services and social care, and to information in an accessible format where it is reasonable for the service provider to provide it.
- motoring, transport and travel infrastructure, such as railway stations and airports, and to information in an accessible format where it is reasonable for the service provider to provide it;
- it is unlawful for employers and education providers to discriminate against disabled people for a reason related to their disability, unless this can be justified.
- buying or renting land or property, including making it easier for disabled people to rent property and for tenants to make disability-related adaptations
People with a mental health condition and some health conditions such as HIV/AIDS also have rights under the Disability Discrimination Act.
People have campaigned for disabled people’s rights for a long time. If you think you are being discriminated against you can complain and organisations can be forced to change how they treat you.
If you have any queries about your rights you could contact DIAL on 0113 214 3630.
Read the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 1995 and Disability Discrimination Acts (DDA) 2005.