What are my rights under the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA)?

Under the 1995 & 2005 Disability Discrimination Act (DDA), employers may not discriminate against current or prospective employees on the basis of their disability.

The law covers:

  • recruitment and retention
  • promotion and transfers
  • training and development and
  • dismissal.

It means you have a right to a fair recruitment process. If you fulfil the selection criteria for the job, your disability should not be a barrier. You also have a right to a fair and truthful explanation from the employer if you do not get the job. The employer must consider whether there is any kind of support or adjustment that they could reasonably make that means you would be able to do the job.

Disability is not always obvious. The DDA generally defines a person as disabled if they have a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on a person's ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities :

  • 'normal' means things that people do on a regular or daily basis, such as reading, writing, using the telephone, having a conversation and travelling by public transport
  • 'long-term' usually means the impairment should have lasted or be expected to last at least a year, and
  • 'substantial' means not minor or trivial.