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The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 ("DDA") was introduced to promote equality of treatment for the disabled and provide means for certain rights to be enforced, mainly in the areas of employment and provision of goods and/or services.

Part III of the DDA relates to the provision of goods and services, something which affects all of us to a greater or lesser degree. Basically, anyone who provided goods or services to the public (a "service provider") has duties imposed on them by Part III of the DDA, except for certain excluded areas such as education or transport.

The first stage of Part III of the DDA was implemented on 2 December 1996. This makes it unlawful for a service provider to treat disabled people less favourably for a reason related to their disability than it would treat others. There are three specific types of discrimination which have been made unlawful. This first is refusing to provide a service to a disabled person, such as the assistant of a small shop refusing to serve a disabled person on the grounds that a nearby larger shop has better disabled facilities.

The second is providing a service at a lower standard, such as making a person with a facial disfigurement sit out of sight of other customers at a restaurant. The final type of discrimination is providing service on less favourable terms. An example would be a travel agent asking a disabled person for a larger deposit in the belief that disabled people are more likely to cancel their holidays.

Whilst this was seen by many as no more than imposing a requirement for good manners to disabled people, the second stage of Part III which was implemented on 1 October 1999 is more far reaching. This imposes a duty on service providers to make "reasonable adjustments" for disabled people in the way they provide their service, and is described in more detail below. The third and final stage of Part III is due to be implemented in 2004. This is the most important aspect of Part III and will impose a duty on service providers to make reasonable adjustments to any physical features of their premises to overcome physical barriers to access. However, at present there is no obligation on a service provider to make physical changes to their premises, although some larger organisations are taking steps now to ensure they will be compliant by the 2004 deadline.

Discrimination is defined by the DDA as occurring if a service provider treats a disabled person less favourably for a reason related to their disability than it would treat others to whom that reason does not apply, or if it fails to comply with one of the duties imposed by the DDA. In some circumstances there can be a defence of justification for the service provider, but this is limited to 5 specific reasons, unlike in employment cases where there is no such limitation.

The justifications are as follows:

  1. Avoiding danger to the health or safety of any person
  2. Lack of contractual capacity
  3. Service provider would be unable to offer the service to the public otherwise
  4. It enables the service provider to offer the service to disabled people
  5. Greater expense

In all cases the service provider must consider whether a reasonable adjustment could be made to enable disabled people to use the service. It is not enough to make some changes if you still leave the service impossible or unreasonably difficult to use for some disabled people. Further, the failure to anticipate the need for an adjustment would not necessarily provide a defence to a claim that it was reasonable to provide one.

In order to try and ensure compliance with Part III there are some basic points of good practice which all service providers should follow. These are as follows:

Bringing a Claim

It is unlikely that many claims will be brought under Part III as the amount of damages recoverable is likely to be low. This means that most, if not all claims, will be dealt with in the small claims courts where legal costs cannot normally be recovered. Therefore most people will not be able to get legal representation if they cannot afford to pay for this themselves, and these costs will not be recoverable from the service provider if the claim is successful.

All cases must be started within 6 months of the alleged discrimination or you will be time-barred from bringing a claim. This can be extended by 2 months if the Disability Rights Advice Service are involved, but DARAS can only be approached via an intermediary such as the CAB or a solicitor because they cannot give advice directly to the public.

Claims are issued in the county court and the court can award damages for injury to feelings as well as financial loss, but recent caselaw suggests such awards will be small, perhaps in the region of 500.

Further information can be found at the government's disability discrimination website, and there is also a DDA Helpline on 0345-622633.

If you believe that you might have a legal claim relating to About Disability Discrimination, please complete the online enquiry form or call 0870 024 0558. Your enquiry will be forwarded to a solicitor who specialises in About Disability Discrimination.

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