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Thursday, 9 September 2010

The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA)

The Disability Discrimination Act is a piece of legislation that promotes civil rights for disabled people and protects disabled people from discrimination. You can order a copy of the Act in a range of formats.

Disability rights in everyday life

This page is about the Disability Discrimination Act itself. There is separate information about how the Act affects your rights in different areas of life, including accessing and using the services of shops, cafes and banks.

Changes to the Disability Discrimination Act

From 1 October 2010, the majority of the Equality Act 2010 will be implemented and will replace major parts of the provisions of the Disability Discrimination Act.

The Disability Discrimination Act

The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 1995 aims to end the discrimination that many disabled people face. This Act has been significantly extended, including by the Disability Discrimination Act 2005. It now gives disabled people rights in the areas of:

  • employment
  • education
  • access to goods, facilities and services, including larger private clubs and land-based transport services
  • buying or renting land or property, including making it easier for disabled people to rent property and for tenants to make disability-related adaptations
  • functions of public bodies, for example issuing of licences

The Act requires public bodies to promote equality of opportunity for disabled people. It also allows the government to set minimum standards so that disabled people can use public transport easily.

Copies of the Disability Discrimination Act

Both Acts are published on the website of the Office of Public Sector Information.

Print copy

Print versions of both Acts are published by The Stationery Office (TSO) and can be bought. The ISBN numbers are ISBN 0105450952 for the 1995 Act and ISBN 0105411051 for the 2005 Act.

Braille and large print versions

You can also order Braille and large print versions of the Act by phoning TSO on 0870 600 5522 or by emailing customer.service@tso.co.uk. They have the same ISBN as the standard print versions.

Easy Read guide

A free Easy Read guide (ISBN 9780108508066) is available to order on the TSO Shop website, by phone on 0870 600 5522 or by emailing customer.service@tso.co.uk.

British Sign Language (BSL) DVD

A free BSL DVD guide to the Act (ISBN 9780108508042) is available to order on the TSO website, by phone on 0870 600 5522 or by emailing customer.service@tso.co.uk.

Audio CD

A free audio CD (ISBN 9780108508073) guide to the Act is available to order on the TSO website, by phone on 0870 600 5522 or by emailing customer.service@tso.co.uk.

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