What is disability and who is disabled ?

Based on research, around one in five people of working age are considered by the Government and by the DRC to be “disabled”.

What that means is that they have a disability or a long-term health condition that has an impact on their day to day lives. People in these circumstances and some others (such as people with a facial disfigurement) are likely to have rights under the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA).

It is important that people have rights – people with cancer, diabetes, multiple sclerosis and heart conditions; people who have a hearing or sight impairment or a significant mobility difficulty, caused for example by arthritis, can be treated unfairly. The same is true of people who have mental health conditions or learning difficulties.

People need protection against being treated unfairly. While they might be considered “disabled” according to the Disability Discrimination Act, they don’t need to use that term about themselves – and very many people with rights under the DDA don’t.

Many people think that you can tell if someone is disabled and that people are usually disabled from childhood. In fact, most people who have a disability or a health condition develop it in later life – only 17 per cent are born with a particular condition.

And while Britain is getting wealthier and medicine is developing, in fact an increasing proportion of the population have some form of health condition or disability, partly because many of us are living longer and because treatments are improving. People are able to live for a long time, after cancer, after a heart attack, after an accident – a cause for celebration.

The DDA provides disabled people with rights and it also places duties on employers. More importantly, it helps encourage employers and employees to work together to break away from rigid employment practices, identify what adjustments and support might be needed, and find flexible ways of working that may benefit the whole workforce.

Are you disabled as defined by the DDA?

If you are “disabled” under the terms of the DDA, then this will help you to negotiate for reasonable adjustments in the workplace and give you legal protection if you feel you have been treated unfairly by an employer. There is further information on this in the legal section – ‘About your rights’.

Am I disabled?

A recent survey showed that 52 per cent of people who qualified as “disabled” under the DDA and had rights not to be treated unfairly because of their disability or health condition did not consider themselves disabled.

People are affected by disability or health conditions in different ways. This can happen suddenly, as a result of accidents or strokes for example, or gradually as a result of conditions such as arthritis and multiple sclerosis. Some people are affected for some but not all of the time by their condition, for example people with manic depression. There is often no defining moment when a health issue becomes a disability, at least for the individual concerned.

When does a person become disabled?

This often depends on who is asking and the purpose of the question. Some people are classified as “disabled” for one purpose but not for another. The definition of disability or incapacity in terms of access to benefits is different to that for a free bus pass from your local council.

Should I declare my disability?

Declaring a disability can sometimes be difficult for many different reasons:

• you feel you will not get a job if you say you have a disability
• no one can see the condition that affects you and you feel embarrassed about bringing it up
• you may be worried about how your employer will respond, particularly if they have not been sympathetic to someone else in a similar situation
• you may not like asking for help because you feel you can manage or because you don’t want a fuss
• you think your manager will tell you to get on with it or tell you “everyone has difficulties and they cope”
• you are afraid you might lose your job because your boss will see you as “less able”

All of these and many more are real fears – you know your situation better than anyone else and you also know your employer. However, statistics show that one in four people either has a disability or health condition or is close to someone who does.