Disability and equality law

2013 ◽  
pp. 42-68
Author(s):  
Gillian S. Howard ◽  
Tony Williams
Keyword(s):  
Great Britain ◽  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Race Relations ◽  
Sex Discrimination ◽  
The Other ◽  
Disability Discrimination ◽  
New Concepts ◽  
Disability Discrimination Act ◽  
Definition Of

The Equality Act 2010 (EqA) (which applies in Great Britain and not in Northern Ireland) replaces the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA) and all the other antidiscrimination statutes and regulations (e.g. Sex Discrimination Act 1975; Race Relations Act 1976). The EqA has updated, added to, and consolidated the various definitions of discrimination that existed in the previous legislation. It makes discrimination because of various ‘protected characteristics’ unlawful. Disability is one of the ‘protected characteristics’. This chapter focuses on the disability discrimination provisions of the EqA but covers some of the other ‘protected characteristics’ in passing. Originally, antidiscrimination legislation was piecemeal, inadequate, and disparate. The EqA has pulled together the various pieces of antidiscrimination legislation, added explicit detail in some areas (e.g. includes a new definition of indirect disability discrimination), new concepts (e.g. ‘discrimination on the grounds of combined characteristics’) and modified the former approach under the disability discrimination legislation concerning comparisons with an ‘able-bodied’ person. These issues are explained in the following sections.

Defining Disability in Theory and Practice: A Critique of the British Disability Discrimination Act 1995

2003 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
CAROL WOODHAMS ◽  
SUSAN CORBY
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
The Other ◽  
Medical Evidence ◽  
Disability Discrimination ◽  
The Public ◽  
Disability Discrimination Act ◽  
Definition Of

This article presents a theoretical critique of the employment provisions of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) (1995), focusing on the definition of disability. It argues that the underpinning medical assumption of the statutory definition of disability is detrimental to the achievement of disability equality in the workplace and is problematic for practitioners and Employment Tribunals. In particular there are four areas of significant confusion arising from the need for medical evidence, the lack of congruence between managerial and legal definitions, the focus on the negative aspects of disability and the fact that disability is often hidden. By exploring these four themes and drawing on comparisons with the other equality laws, the article concludes that the definition of disability contained in the DDA (1995) contradicts many of the principles of the liberal equality framework that underpins it. Finally the article considers the public policy implications and suggests a new statutory approach.

The Labor Party in Ulster: Opposition by Cartel

1967 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 526-535 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerard F. Rutan
Keyword(s):  
Great Britain ◽  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Political System ◽  
Party System ◽  
Political Socialization ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Society ◽  
Political Beliefs

Almost thirty years ago Nicholas Mansergh concluded that the political parties in Northern Ireland did not fulfill the needs of the political system: that (to put his statement in more contemporary terms) the input functions, particularly that of political socialization, were enfeebled to the extent that one party constituted a permanent government while the other became an equally permanent opposition. What is more, underlying the party system and within the political society itself there existed no consensus on fundamentals: “There is no residue of political beliefs—as in Great Britain and the Free State—acceptable to both parties.”

Embracing a Threatening Other: Identity and Reconciliation in Northern Ireland

2007 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cecelia Clegg
Keyword(s):  
Northern Ireland ◽  
The Other ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Definition Of

AbstractIn exploring the interaction between reconciliation and identity in the process of making peace in post-conflict Northern Ireland, this article argues that while political and inter-personal levels of reconciliation are important, it is societal reconciliation which is pivotal in securing the sustainability of 'peace'. The article offers a detailed definition of 'social reconciliation' which it locates in the development of a multi-layered typology of reconciliation. The implications of what it claims is the necessary re-negotiation of identities in a post-conflict society are teased out with reference to the situation in Northern Ireland. Some contours of the need to embrace the other, even a threatening other, are sketched.

Pour l'abandon du fétichisme de la dépolitisation

1974 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-51
Author(s):  
Yokhanan Manor
Keyword(s):  
Great Britain ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Political ◽  
Public Administrators ◽  
Political Debate ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Double Origin ◽  
False Problem

Towards the abandonment of the fetishism of depoliticizationThe problem of the politics of administration is generally badly stated. The notion of politicization is opposed to that of depoliticization, without offering a precise definition of the two terms. There is a double origin to this false problem. First, the depoliticization of the administration appears to be dictated by the progress of rationality. Secondly, political circles show a will or an assent to shield public administrators from political debate. One is thus led to conceive of the politicization of administration in a narrow and negative way, a fact which falsifies the discussion of the problem. On the other hand, if one sees politicization as a phenomenon of interpenetration and influence, in both senses, between the administrative and the political sectors of the system, one widens the full significance of the problem and is led to treat it in a positive manner. The three criteria espoused by Caiden and Raphaeli are employed in this analysis, even if they call for serious reservations. The case studies are those of Great Britain, France, and Israel. In the course of the three studies, an inventory is established of both the negative and positive effects of politicization of the administration. The phenomenon appears finally as irreducible. That is why one has to abandon the fetishism of depoliticization in order to become aware or to become conscious again of the intrinsic politicization of the administration, the effects of which are not only baleful.

‘Disability’ and ‘Discrimination’ in the Context of Disability Discrimination Legislation: The UK and Australian Acts Compared

2000 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 203-245 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Hamilton
Keyword(s):  
Functional Limitations ◽  
Public Life ◽  
The Other ◽  
Disability Discrimination ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Positive Feature ◽  
The Government ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Uk ◽  
First Time

Both the Commonwealth of Australia and the UK now have in place anti-disability discrimination legislation. In the example of the Commonwealth, that legislation reflected a positive desire by the community and the government to eliminate disability discrimination in public life. In the UK on the other hand, the legislation introduced represented something of a compromise between activists, who wanted stronger legislation, and the government who up until that point had wanted none. Historically anti-discrimination legislation in both jurisdictions has been similarly structured; containing similar grounds of discrimination and also a similar conceptualisation of discrimination. However, partly no doubt as a result of government antipathy, the UK model of legislation departs from the model used in earlier antidiscrimination legislation in a number of key respects: the legislation contains a new conceptualisation of discrimination; and, it introduces for the first time in antidiscrimination legislation a general ‘defence’ of justification for all forms of discrimination. Additionally, the definition of ‘disability’ employed in the Act is very narrow, concentrating upon a person's functional limitations in relation to ‘normal’ activities. The purpose of this article is to contrast the concepts of ‘disability’ employed in the Acts, and to consider the effectiveness of both the ‘traditional’ and the new conceptualization of discrimination contained in the Commonwealth and UK Acts respectively. While disability under the UK Act is reflective of the government's antipathy to the new legislation, the reconceptualization of discrimination is, on the whole, a positive feature, moving away from the principle that equality equals ‘sameness’, to one which gives recognition to disadvantage and places an explicit, positive, obligation on employers to redress that disadvantage. Other areas of difference between the two Acts — such as in the area of ‘defenses’, the development of enforceable Standards (under the Commonwealth Act), and methods of enforcement will be covered in a subsequent article.

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