'Equality bill disappointing' says Sir Bert

Veteran disability rights campaigner Sir Bert Massey (pictured, left) has told Disability Now that the Government’s new equality bill will dilute disabled people’s rights.

He also says that the new bill, which has now begun its journey through Parliament, fails to deliver on beef­ing up existing disability discrimination legislation.

“This is not a new and enhanced Disability Discrimination Act (DDA),” he said. “It is mainly a consolidation bill used to incorporate different acts of Parliament into a single bill, with the objective of making it easier to understand and follow.

“It will repeal the 1995 and 2005 DDAs and incorp­orate their provisions into what will become the Equality Act 2010.

“But life is seldom so simple. The Disability Rights Commission (DRC) had recommended additions to the DDA and it was hoped that they would be included in the new bill. That hope has been in vain, so there is still much for disabled people to campaign on.

“The DRC called for pre-interview questions on disability to be banned when people apply for a job, as this is often used to deny a person an interview. The bill is silent on this.

“It would also have been good if the payments awarded to people who have been discriminated against when buying goods or services had been increased, so that it is always more expensive to discriminate than not to. Alas, discrimination will remain the cheap option for some service providers.

“With any consolidation bill there is a danger that some provisions will be watered down, and that people will have fewer or less enforceable rights as a result.

“For example, under the DDA there is a requirement to remove barriers. The new bill proposes changing this to ‘avoiding disadvantage’. This phrase might be weaker than the current law.”

Sir Bert also fears that the single equalities approach will mean disabled people are less involved in policy decisions that affect us.

“One of the major changes introduced in regulations that followed the 2005 Act was the requirement for public authorities to involve disabled people when setting policies that affected them. The bill introduces a single equality duty and we must ensure that disabled people’s involvement isn’t lost in the quest to standardise equality legislation.

“Disabled people and their organisations need to be ever vigilant that a bill that is broadly welcomed is not allowed to move disability rights backwards.”