Why do people discriminate against disabled people

For more information, call: An employer doesn't have to provide an accommodation if doing so would cause undue hardship to the employer. Undue hardship means that the accommodation would be too difficult or too expensive to provide, in light of the employer's size, financial resources, and the needs of the business. An employer may not refuse to provide an accommodation just because it involves some cost. An employer does not have to provide the exact accommodation the employee or job applicant wants.

If more than one accommodation works, the employer may choose which one to provide. Not everyone with a medical condition is protected from discrimination. In order to be protected, a person must be qualified for the job and have a disability as defined by the law.

The law places strict limits on employers when it comes to asking any job applicants to answer disability-related questions, take a medical exam, or identify a disability.

For example, an employer may not ask a job applicant to answer disability-related questions or take a medical exam before extending a job offer. No, in fact it's against the law for the airline to make you pay for a wheelchair if you're disabled.

Get advice from your nearest Citizens Advice about how to deal with the airline company before you next book a flight. Providers of goods, facilities and services must not treat you less favourably than they would treat a person who is not disabled.

An example of less favourable treatment is where a hotel refuses a booking from a person with a hearing impairment, saying that the hotel is not suitable for people with a hearing impairment. Service providers must make 'reasonable adjustments' to allow a disabled person to use their services.

If they don't do this, they must be able to show that their failure to do so is reasonable. Examples of making reasonable adjustments include providing information on audiotape as well as in writing, or installing a ramp to allow wheelchair access.

If you need changes to your home to help with your disability, you can ask your landlord to make reasonable adjustments. For more information about discrimination when buying or renting property, see Discrimination in housing.

Providers of education must not discriminate against disabled students, or disabled people applying to be students. Providers of education include providers of further education, higher education, adult and community education. Providers of education must not discriminate against students or applicants in the following ways:.

Providers of education must not discriminate against students or applicants by treating them less favourably than students who are not disabled, unless they can justify this treatment.

This means that education providers must not:. For example, if a school refuses to take a child who suffers from epilepsy unless she stops having fits, this will count as discrimination. In some cases, an education provider can treat a disabled student less favourably if it can justify this.

A school can justify less favourable treatment if it is because of a permitted form of selection. For example, a child with learning disabilities applies to a school that selects its intake on the basis of academic ability and the child fails the school's entrance exam. In these circumstances, the school would be able to justify not offering the child a place. Providers of education must not discriminate against disabled students or applicants by failing to make reasonable adjustments to allow for their disability.

If this places a disabled student at a substantial disadvantage compared with students who are not disabled, this will be regarded as discrimination. For example, a deaf pupil who lip-reads is at a disadvantage if teachers continue to speak while facing away to write on a whiteboard.

Making reasonable adjustments includes providing special aids such as equipment and sign language interpreters. There are some circumstances in which an education provider may be able to justify not making an adjustment for a student's disability. Schools do not have to make reasonable adjustments to buildings and the physical environment of the school.

However, all local education authorities must have plans to make their schools more accessible to disabled pupils. Maintained schools, independent schools, and non-maintained special schools must produce their own accessibility plans. The plans must be in writing and publicly available. Providers of further and higher education do have to make reasonable adjustments to their premises to allow better access for disabled students.

However, issues such as cost can be taken into account when they decide whether an adjustment is reasonable. For more information about the rights of disabled students at school or in post education, see the Equality and Human Rights Commission website. For example, a school must recruit a learning support assistant or provide information in Braille or audio tape where the student's plan or statement provides for one.

In some cases, colleges of further education must also comply. In Scotland, a child with special educational needs has to have a record made of these needs in a coordinated support plan called a Record of Needs. The local authority must provide information on its general policy and practice with regard to provision in schools for pupils with additional support needs.

You can find information about discrimination appeals on the tribunal's website. If you cannot resolve the problem with the education department, you can raise a claim at the Additional Support Needs Tribunal service that deals with disability claims for school pupils.

Find out more on the tribunal's website. If you think you have suffered discrimination in education because of your disability, you can talk to an adviser at your nearest Citizens Advice. They have the same duties as other providers of services. These rules apply to the transport service itself as well as to other related services, for example, at a railway station. It is against the law to discriminate against a person on the basis of disability in many areas of public life, including: employment, education, getting or using services, renting or buying a house or unit and accessing public places.

There are limited exceptions and exemptions. Employers have a legal obligation to remove barriers that people with disabilities may face at work.

Under the Equality Act, service providers must make reasonable adjustments to their services and premises to ensure that disabled people can access them. These could include:. Service providers have to change policies, practices and procedures which make it impossible or unreasonably difficult for disabled people to use their service. They must also provide auxiliary aids and services, such as arranging an interpreter for a meeting, if that will help disabled people use the service.

The definition of 'reasonable' depends on who the service provider is and what their resources are. For example, a large chain of estate agents would be expected to make more adjustments for disabled people than an estate agent who only has one office.

A service provider can refuse to let a disabled person access their services or can restrict their use of the services if there are genuine health and safety concerns. The service provider must have real evidence that there is a danger, for example, by having a risk assessment carried out. A service provider can refuse or restrict their services to a disabled person if they have evidence that the person cannot understand the nature of the transaction or give informed consent.

However, service providers cannot refuse or restrict their services if someone else is acting legally on a disabled person's behalf for example, if they have a power of attorney. Before refusing or restricting their services to disabled people, the service provider must make sure that there are no ways they could get around this.

For example by providing aids or extra assistance to help a disabled person access the service. A service provider can justify providing a reduced or worse service to a disabled person if this is the only way they can offer the service.