What is the equality act 2010?
The Equality Act 2010 allows disabled people to be legally protected from discrimination in the workplace, as well as in day-to-day life.
What are disability rights? Do I have rights in education, employment or during police custody if I am disabled? Through the Equality Act 2010, as well as the UN Convention, you retain a number of specific rights if you have a disability. In fact, this concerns your school, employer, and more. You could then receive certain help and types of accommodations to account for your disability. Your Benefits will tell you everything that you need to know about disability rights.
What are disability rights?
If you are disabled, there are certain rights you are entitled to. This concerns education, employment and more. In fact, this is to make sure that disabled people are not put at a disadvantaged position.
The Equality Act 2010 is a big factor for the disability rights of disabled people. It outlines their rights in the renting and buying of property and land, ability to use facilities, services and goods, as well as access to education and employment.
You may be the parent or carer of a disabled person. In this case, you may also have certain protections from the Equality Act 2010. Furthermore, the UN has a convention on disability rights. In fact, this has also been agreed to by the UK. In short, it protects the rights of disabled people in the country.
If you are disabled, you may also be eligible for certain benefits. In fact, this includes the DLA, PIP and Attendance Allowance. However, you can only get one of these benefits at a time, more specifically, the benefit you can get depends on your age, and whether or not you reached State Pension age:
| Disability benefits eligibility by age in 2022 | |
|---|---|
| Age | Benefit |
| From birth until 16 years old | Disability Living Allowance (DLA) |
| From 16 years old until State Pension age | Personal Independence Payment (PIP) |
| State Pension age or older | Attendance Allowance (AA) |
Disability rights with police
When it comes to the police, disabled individuals maintain disability rights. In fact, this includes if you are being questioned or interviewed by the police. For exemple, you may have speech difficulties, be hearing-impaired or deaf. Then, the police should have an interpreter present.
Important
Note that although it is recommended, the police is not required by law to provide an interpreter. In fact, this is if not going through with the interview without the interpreter would likely lead to people, property or evidence being damaged or harmed. In this case, getting an interpreter is not required.
You may have a learning disability and be interviewed by police. If this is the case, the police should have someone who can accommodate for this disability in the room, also known as an “appropriate adult”. Then, it’s required that the appropriate adult is not employed by the police, and they should be an expert in dealing with learning disabilities.
Note that although it is recommended, the police is not required by law to provide an appropriate adult. In fact, if waiting for an appropriate adult would likely lead to people, property or evidence being damaged or harmed, it is then not required. In other words, the police will interview you without the presence of an “appropriate adult“.
Disability rights to a medical treatment
You may be detained by police. Then, you retain disability rights. In fact, you can get a healthcare worker to conduct a medical examination on you. The type of healthcare worker that can do this is often called a “Forensic Medical Examiner”, and can be a police surgeon, paramedic, nurse or more.
Note that you may not want to be examined by the healthcare worker that is available at the time of your incarnation. Then, you can request your GP (general practitioner). However, note that they will not be able to accommodate for this if they are unavailable at the specified time. Furthermore, it could be the case that you end up having to pay for the examination.
Disability rights for employment
Your disability rights in the workplace are, in large part, outlined by the 2010 Equality Act. In fact, this means that your employer cannot discriminate against you for your disability. Moreover, there are a number of areas that this impacts. Mainly, the following:
- Grievances and disciplines;
- Training opportunities;
- Transfers;
- Redundancy;
- Promotions;
- Dismissal;
- Terms of employment (which includes pay);
- Job offers;
- Proficiency and aptitude tests;
- Interviews;
- Application forms.
For each of these areas, your employer needs to accommodate for your disability. For example, for application forms, your employer needs to provide forms that accommodate for your condition. If you are blind, this means an application spoken allowed, or an application in braille.
Disclaimer
You cannot be made redundant simply because of your disability. In fact, redundancy needs to be chosen on a level playing ground for all employees, your disability is not a good reason. Moreover, you could become disabled while still working for your employer. Then, your employer cannot make you retire.
Reasonable adjustments for disabled employees
If you are disabled, your employer needs to make “reasonable adjustments”. However, what does this mean? It means that they need to make some accommodations to account for your disability, and not put you at a disadvantage.
“Reasonable adjustment” can mean that your hours worked are changed, or you are provided certain special equipment in order to help you achieve your job. If there is a reasonable adjustment that your employer can do in order to help you, then they need to do it.
Disability rights during recruitment
If you are disabled, the interviewer during a job interview cannot ask just any question about your health. In most cases, they are extremely limited, and cannot ask many questions about your disability or health. However, there are some cases in which they can ask a number of questions. In fact, they can inquire about your disability or health if:
- They require the information for national security checks;
- Recruiting more disabled people is a goal they have set;
- You would need monitoring;
- During the selection process, the interviewer would need to accommodate for your disability through reasonable arrangements;
- They need to figure out if conducting an interview would be feasible;
- Your disability would keep you from being able to do a key part of the job description.
It is possible that a question is asked about your health or disability during an interview or application form. However, it’s important to think about whether this type of question is authorized. In fact, the main way to figure this out is to know if the question is really required for the job.
Disability rights for education
If you are disabled, you are entitled to certain disability rights when it comes to education. In fact, the school that you go to or the provider for your education may not discriminate against you. This includes multiple things.
First, they cannot engage in direct and indirect discrimination. Direct discrimination would be, for example, being denied access to a school, or being refused admission because of your disability. Indirect discrimination would be, for example, the application process for the school not including an accessibility option or format that would let you apply.
The school cannot engage in victimisation, harassment, as well as discrimination. An example of victimisation would be, for example, punishing a student for reporting harassment. Furthermore, an example of harassment would be a teacher violently or psychologically punishing a student with concentration issues for not being concentrated.
Disclaimer
Finally, the disability rights of disabled people in education includes protection against discrimination. An example of discrimination includes a number of things. For example, it can be a student prevented from enjoying recess outside because them travelling outside “takes too long”.
Your child may have special needs when it comes to education. Then, you have some recourse. For example, you may notify your school’s SENCO (or SEN co-ordinator). However, if your child or you are not currently in school, you can notify your local council instead. Additionally, you could also get help from your local Information, Advice and Support Service (IAS).
SEND: special education needs and disabilities
SEND is a type of disability or need that impacts a child’s ability to acquire information. In other words, they likely learn information differently. Furthermore, it can impact a number of other things, including socially and physically.
For example, a SEND may impact the ability of a disabled student to socialize. Furthermore, it can hinder them being able to concentrate on class, as well as their physical ability. Furthermore, things like dyslexia may impact their ability to read and write. Finally, a SEND may impact their ability to socialize.
Reasonable adjustments for disabled students
There are certain adjustments that schools need to do for disabled students. These are called “reasonable adjustments“. What they are are help and extra support for physical or psychological disabilities. They are considered disability rights.
Examples of reasonable adjustments for disabled students include providing certain equipment or training. For example, this can include teachers that can teach in sign language.
Note that schools do not need to adhere to reasonable adjustments. In fact, this is because they already need to make the facilities accessible to students with physical disabilities. Then, the fact that they do not have to make reasonable adjustments doesn’t mean that disabled people are at a disadvantage. Indeed, this is because disabled accessibility needs to be planned.
Your child may be in higher education. Then, you could talk to their university or college in order to see what help they have available. Furthermore, your local council can help you get an assessment for your child to see the help that they require on a day-to-day basis.
