The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA) was passed in 1995 to introduce new measures aimed at ending the outright and often vexatious discrimination which many disabled people continue to face. It protects disabled people in a number of areas, including:

• since December 1996 it has been unlawful to treat disabled people less favourably than other people for a reason related to their disability; (change / update internal policies, practices and/or procedures)



• since October 1999 there has been a duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled people, such as providing extra help or making changes to the way they provide their services; (provision of auxiliary aids and/or services)



• from October 2004 businesses (in general) may have to make alterations to the physical features of their premises to overcome physical barriers to access, which should ultimately cater for a range of disabilities; (remove physical barriers and/or provide the service by another means)