What counts as a disability according to the Disability Discrimination Act?
The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) protects disabled people. The Act sets out the circumstances in which a person is “disabled”. It says you are disabled if you have:

• a mental or physical impairment
• this has an adverse effect on your ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities
• the adverse effect is substantial -the adverse effect is long-term (meaning it has lasted for 12 months, or is likely to last for more than 12 months or for the rest of your life)

There are some special provisions, for example:

• if your impairment (disability) has badly affected your ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities, but doesn’t any more, it will still be counted as having that effect if it is likely to do so again
• if you have a progressive condition such as HIV or multiple sclerosis or arthritis, and it will badly affect your ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities in the future, it will be treated as having a bad effect on you now
• past disabilities are covered.

What are “normal day-to-day activities”?
At least one of these areas must be badly affected:

• mobility
• manual dexterity
• physical co-ordination
• continence
• ability to lift, carry or move everyday objects
• speech, hearing or eyesight
• memory or ability to concentrate, learn or understand
• understanding of the risk of physical danger

It’s really important to think about the effect of your disability without treatment. The Act says that any treatment or correction should not be taken into account, including medical treatment or the use of a prosthesis or other aid (for example, a hearing aid). The only things which are taken into account are glasses or contact lenses. The important thing is to work out exactly how your impairment (disability) affects you. Remember to concentrate on what you can’t do, or find difficult, rather than what you can do.

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