Fast Forward to the 1990s and disabled people had no choice but to take significant action after they were repeatedly discriminated against in and out of the workplace. Direct Action Network brought disabled people together who needed legal protection against the discrimination they faced in and outside of work.
This action led to the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, which made it unlawful to discriminate a person on grounds of their disability in relation to employment, and in areas of some consumer goods and services. Better facilities on public transport followed this legislation making using public transport a more comfortable experience for disabled people.
Fifteen years later the Equality Act 2010 was given royal assent and this absorbed the Disability Discrimination Act, amongst other equality areas, identifying nine protected characteristics. This vital piece of legislation dealt with workplace discrimination based on disability, age, sex, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation, marriage or civil partnership status, pregnancy or maternity, and gender reassignment.
Under this legislation you are defined as having a disability if you have a physical or mental impairment that has a ‘substantial’ and ‘long-term’ negative effect on your ability to do normal daily activities.
Unfortunately many disabled people still face barriers finding jobs and getting on at work. Some areas where the Equality Act 2010 supports disabled people include:
- Preventing employers from creating employment criteria which cannot be achieved, or which a disabled person would find much harder to meet than a non-disabled person, unless the criteria was objectively justified
- Prohibiting employers from treating disabled workers less favourably than others
- Ensuring employers make ‘reasonable adjustments’ to prevent disabled employees being substantially disadvantaged at work
- Protecting disabled employees from bullying and harassment because of your disability or association with someone who has a disability
- Negotiated disability leave.
Little has changed since the Equality Act 2010 and as trade unionists we work hard to defend the rights of our members. We campaign to bring about better working conditions for disabled people in the workplace.
Current GMB campaigns for disabled workers include the Reasonable Adjustments Passport. Let's take inspiration from our disabled workers' history - read about the campaign and get active today.
