Disability Discrimination Act (UK)
This page is about epilepsy and the Disability Discrimination Act in the UK. If you are looking for information about disability discrimination in other countries, then please contact your local epilepsy organisation which should be able to help you.
What is the Disability Discrimination Act?
The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) is a law that makes it illegal to discriminate against disabled people. Under the DDA discrimination can occur when:
- a disabled person is treated less favourably than someone else; and
- the treatment is for a reason relating to the person's disability; and
- this treatment cannot be justified.
The DDA also requires employers, service providers and those in education to make "reasonable adjustment" for a disabled person. Failure to do this may also be discrimination.
What areas of life does the DDA cover?
The DDA covers buying goods, using services, finding somewhere to live, getting a job, education in schools and further education.
I don't feel disabled because of my epilepsy. How can the DDA apply to me?
The DDA does not list conditions by name. Instead it sets out different rules. One rule states that in order to be covered by the Act a person's medical condition has to be long term. Epilepsy is a tendency to have more than one seizure so it is considered to be long term. Even people with epilepsy whose seizures are totally controlled with medication are covered by the DDA. This is because the Act considers what the effects of a condition would be without treatment. Even people who have had epilepsy in the past and no longer have seizures or take medication are covered. This is because the DDA covers people who have had a disability in the past.
What does the DDA mean for people with epilepsy in particular?
In the workplace, the DDA means that there can no longer be `blanket rules' about people with epilepsy. For example, in the past, a job advert may have required all applicants to hold a driving licence, whether or not driving was an important part of the job. This is clearly discriminating against many people with epilepsy. If the employer fails to make a reasonable adjustment, such as accepting the use of public transport or the occasional taxi, this could also be discrimination. There could be other ways an employer could make adjustments for people with epilepsy. For those who have sleep seizures, perhaps being able to start later in the morning would be helpful. And some extra time away from work to attend hospital appointments may also be needed.
From 1 Oct 2004, service providers may have to make other 'reseasonable adjustments' to their premises so that there are no physical barriers stopping or making it unreasonably difficult for you to use their services.
In an educational setting, for a pupil who experiences absence seizures, it may be reasonable to provide some written information at the end of a lesson to help them catch up on things missed.
The DDA also means that people with epilepsy cannot be refused a service, such as having a meal in a restaurant, or a landlord cannot refuse to let property just because someone has epilepsy. These are just a few examples.
The word justified has been used. How can discrimination ever be justified?
Under the DDA there are three main ways that discrimination or failure to make adjustment are `justified'.
- the Armed Forces are excluded under the Act — see our information on employment restrictions
- Health and Safety: where to employ or provide services to a disabled person would put that person or others at risk (for example allowing someone with uncontrolled seizures to work as a fire fighter).
- Unreasonable adjustment: where making adjustment would not be reasonable (for example a night club would not be expected to completely change its lighting so that it no longer provided the atmosphere its customers would expect).
What can I do if I think I have been discriminated against?
Firstly, you may like to try and resolve the situation with the person concerned. If it is about employment, and you are a member of a union, they could support you in this. There is also the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) or in Northern Ireland the Labour Relations Agency (LRA). These organisations will try to settle the dispute without the need to go to an industrial tribunal.
If you decide to take your case to an Industrial Tribunal, again, your union representative can support you. If the complaint is about goods, facilities or services, land or property or post-16 education and you cannot resolve it informally, you can take your case to the County Court (in Scotland, the Sheriff Court). You may wish to contact a solicitor such as Russell Jones and Walker to help with your case.
If the issue is concerning pre-16 education, you should speak to the head teacher in the first instance. If this does not resolve the issue, ask the school or the relevant education authority for their complaints procedure. If you are still not happy, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) may be able to take up the case or refer it to Disability Conciliation Service if you live in England, Scotland or Wales. If you live in Northern Ireland, contact the Equality Commission. You may also be able to take your claim to a tribunal. Most claims are heard by the Special Education Needs and Disability Tribunals (SENDIST).
Where can I get advice and further information?
- The Epilepsy Action Freephone Helpline can give general advice and information. It also has details of a free Assessment scheme offered by solicitors specialising in the DDA. Call on 0808 800 5050.
- The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) helpline provides information and advicein England Scotland and Wales. Their legal department also takes on a limited number of cases each year. Contact them by phone on 08457 622 633..
- The Equality Commission provides advice and information in Northern Ireland.
- The Community Legal Service can suggest local organisations, such as the Citizens Advice Bureau or Law Centre, that can provide free legal advice. Their phone number is 0845 608 1122.
- SENDIST: Contact by telephone on 0870 606 5750 or by email to tribunalqueries@sendist.gsi.gov.uk.
- Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) offer free, confidential and impartial advice on many issues including legal matters. Find out where your local CAB is by calling 020 7833 2181 or visiting http://www.nacab.org.uk/.
- ACAS (Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service
- Labour Relations Agency (Northern Ireland)
The text of the legislation can be found here:
Epilepsy Helpline
- UK freephone 0808 800 5050
- International +44 113 210 8850
- Email: helpline@epilepsy.org.uk
- Txt msg: 07797 805 390 info
- Live online: Wednesdays 1200-1400 UK time
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Comments
I work full time for the biggest airline in the world adn i have epilepsy and recently they haev been trying to find ways to to get me to leave my job. One manager has even turned around and said she liked me but didnt like the fact i am epileptic!!!
I am having a very hard time at the moment trying to keep my head above water at work. As if i do the slightest thing wrong i will be out the door and no job!!!!
Im doing everything by the book and listening to my union rep but i know one day they will pull me into the office and tell me that they have terminated my contract..Everyday i go into work, i dont know if ive still got my job or not...Dont know what to do as i love my job but if they get rid off me, then [name of employers] will be in the paper..This dda doesnt help at all!!!! A waste of time in my eyes..
I am from the United States and I work at an Independent Auto Repair Shop with my husband. We have our own Group Health Insurance Policy for everyone but we keep getting new Insurance Reps. coming out asking if they can give us a quote on Health Ins. Or they phone and ask the same questions. As soon as they hear I have Epilepsy, the "pre-existing condition" they say "they really do not think they can get anyone to pick it up but they will try," or they never call back. If it wasn't for the epilepsy they would find a company to pick it up I'm sure. They probably don't even look when they walk out my business door. Meanwhile the Group policy we have now keeps climbing to the sky but at least we have one, right!
Insurance denial is a form of discrimination, too.
I have been diagnosed with Epilepsy for the last 10 years and never knew that there was anything available for people like me. I have something called an "Absence" which to try and explain is not being able to complete the most basic of functions, although i may have done the same things a million times before. Recently i have been having these "Absences" in work and which affects my performance greatly, i explained to my managers in work that it is like my brain is re-booting itself (similar to the way a computer re-boots itself) and while this is happening i suffer these "Absences", i am currently taking Lamotrigine, prescribed by my G.P. Although the company that i work for has made "reasonable adjustments" by asking me to seeing occupational health and asking Remploy to see as well to help me cope with my "Disability" i feel as if they are looking for a reason to terminate my contract with them, so the smallest mistake i may/may not make, i feel, will be used against me. Can you please offer me some advice on how i should deal with this as the stress caused every morning, as i am not sure what they are going to say to me "when they ask me to come into the office" is causing me to, i feel, become more prone to having my "Absences"
I have recently been refused a job in a well known company within the sports industry, due to my epilepsy. They seemed really impresssed with me before they found out I "suffered" with it. Everything was going to plan and then the dreaded phone call of refusal took place. The person concerned even admitted that my "condition" was a health and safety issue, and was advised that it wasn't advised to employ me. They continued to proceed to tell me that I was a liability. I told them it was controlled with medication, I wouldn't be a problem and if they wanted to I would sign a contract so that they would not be liable if anything happened to me.
I also asked if that was the only reason for my refusal. I asked for feedback on my interview and if anything else seemed a problem with regards to the position and they said no..nothing at all. They said that I was a brilliant candidate and they would have been more than happy for me to become part of their team. I was "perfect" for the job but having epilepsy hindered my application and there was no way that their general manager would agree to it.
I didn't take it up again with them. My confidence was effected hugely and it wasn't untill an advisor at the job centre told me I could do something about it and to seek further advise. I am not sure if I want to go further as I don't want to upset anyone involved. But I have spent alot of time and money in studying to do this job, I feel totally diflated.
If there is anything I can do, I would really apreciate the advise.
I´ve been discriminated against. But theres nothing I can do as I made a very stupid mistake.
I´ve been epileptic for 14 years. I mostly have a couple of absences a week and one or two tonic clonics a month, either in sleep or awake.
I started working in a bar when I was 18. My employers were aware of my condition when I applied for the job.
I have mild learning difficulties aswell (which they were also aware of) so I was a little slower than ´´normal´´ to pick things up. They weren´t very helpful at all with either of my difficulties and complained about it a lot. when they witnessed my first absence, they disputed that i had even had a seizure because i hadn´t stereotypically fallen to the floor.Even though i had informed them that this is what some of my seizure were like.
But i stood my ground and put up with it. For a year and a half. Looking back now I should have left long before then.
In september just before i turned 20, i had a series of tonic clonic seizures and I was absent from work for a period of 3 weeks. My boss kept ringing me up asking me when i was coming back in, and obviously, i honestly couldnt say... when i finally did come back to work i found that my hours had been cut from 40 to 15. which wasn´t even enough wage to pay my rent.
I asked my boss why and he said - and i quote - ´´you are unreliable because of your epilepsy´´
I completely freaked out. The reason why I can´t do anything about it is because after all that I STILL decided to put up with it. But I freaked out about my rent. I did the stupid thing and started taking from the till, not loads but just enough to cover my back.
Yeah I know I shoudn´t have done it, but I panicked, and maybe subconsciously I wanted a bit of sticking my middle finger up at them too!!
Its not right what they did to me though. That I DO know.
My partner has epilepsy, but she keeps it under control with tablets, but this is causing a problem with her Boss at work, since those tablets also seem to have a side-effect of giving her migraines, which has led to an above-average time off work.
It has already been explained to her Boss that these Migraines are a result of the Epilepsy treatment, but, because the treatment seems to be effective, changing the treatment could have different effects, or, worse still, no effect at all, and my partners epilepsy would return.
The manager has responded to this by sending my partner repeatedly to various locations such as 'Work Medical Direct' in an attempt to get the problem solved when she has already been told that Epilepsy is not a curable disease, it has got to the point where my partner has started suffering from depression over her treatment, since it is quite apparent that her Boss is looking for ways to get rid of her if this problem cannot be solved, indeed, she even, whilst my partner was suffering from depression, lied to her about the Board discussing her future in order to get her to attend work, and then claimed that since she could attend work their was no reason for her to be off ill.
Whilst this is not directly related to the Epilepsy, but more to the side-effects of the medication, I was wondering if my partner had any legal grounds to compel her manager to stop harassing her over a condition caused by her treatment.
In my first real job after leaving tertiary education, I found the door to promotion was slammed shut due to having epilepsy. I couldn't carry a safety certificate, so as a performance analyst I was of little use.
When looking for work, regardless of disability legislation, a huge number of jobs that I could otherwise do are also closed to me, with the standard rebuttal referring to "Health and Safety" in an often generic, vague sort of way that usually works without complaint.
I find that there is little, or no real help from governmental organizations in the UK to assist: in reality I feel constantly prejudiced against; and with no real help. It takes me twice as long to seek employment- often in dead end positions, with a disqualification for management roles usually being tagged onto my disability.
Employers pretend to follow the rules; but find it easy to break them, with no real enforcement of legislation in most cases.
I am currently off work with "stress caused by work". I am a teacher. I have not been discriminated against but when I have asked for help for example support in a large class with some discipline problems, I have been told no. My headteacher has changed my timetable to something I will find more stressful without any consultation or consideration. He has decided to take away my A level teaching, the one area I feel less under stress. His reason is that maybe when I return I will be ill again and the students' grades will be affected.
Occupational Health have told me to go back to work with a phased return but I still have to do as I'm told. He also told me that my stress has nothing to do with my epilepsy and everyone gets my symptoms; he's not a doctor by the way.
My symptoms are moments of concentration loss. These aren't the ones you may have if you're tired or over-worked. They always happen in work and usually in the classroom. An example is that I may be reading from a book to a class and I will suddenly not know where I am on the page or a pupil may ask a question which I begin to answer and then in a moment I will stop and don't know what the question was. I don't remember it later. It can be so embarrassing especially when I am mid-sentence! The best way to describe it is as if a light switch has been turned off then immediately back on again. Also I can be sat in a room in my house and although I know I'm in my house I become confused as to where that might be. It comes back to me after a few seconds. It's so weird. This doesn't sound like the sort of thing everybody gets! I haven't had a seizure for over 20 years and as soon as these lapses in concentration become a little more frequent, I go to my doctor and increase my Lamotrogene and there's no more problem for a couple of years and I feel happier and safer.
So after all that explanation, is my headteacher discriminating by omission?
My union believe I have a case and so does my doctor. All I actually want is a timetable I feel I can cope with rather than one which the headteacher think might.
Would love a response.
Thanks
Alison
Thank you, epilepsy action, for your information - it is so helpful. I am absolutely behind everyone else who has suffered such unjust discrimination. It is disgusting, and needs to be stamped out. My husband left me when I was in hospital for a long time with my epilepsy (I suffer from status epilepticus), threw me out and took my children. He was awarded custody and is moving away with them. The court awarded me weekday custody, that is unworkable and no allowance has been made for my condition. With the advice above, I am going to fight for my rights, and I will be keeping my fingers crossed for everyone else. Let's keep fighting and not stand for this injustice. Good luck, everyone!
i work for local government and have just been diagnosed with having this condition.as i write i can only say that they have been supportive and have bent over backwards to look after me and adjust my workplace e.g. a panic button so help can be called[i am a lone worker] and my time off [3months] has not been questioned.my line manager is a marvel.should this change i will of course be adding negative comments.
hi i have a son how is 8 how has artisam my neighbours have been calling my son name wat can i do about this
After being diagnosed with Epilepsy back in the early 80's and the trauma that that can bring to a young person. I did experience a long period of stability,once my medication regime had been set.
I had informed my employer that I had the condition and that it was well under control with medication.
Unfortunately as the years past, I became complacent about taking my medication and then along with some major emotional upheavals in my life I started to experience more seizures.
My GP's answer to this was to increase my medication. This,I was later to find out, was causing me to fall asleep whilst at work (Employers and colleagues not to happy!). I finally managed to convince my GP to refer me to a neurologist who said "That would knock a camel out" and promptly set about changing my medication.
Unfortunately in the transition and weaning off the old medication, I went on to experience more seizures.
My employer went on to make reasonable adjustments, (mostly for health and safety reasons) but due to the nature of the work that I do, this placed an increased workload upon my colleagues and I soon began to sense a feeling of resentment amongst them. Mainly caused by my wish to maintain confidentiality and my employers obligation to do the same.
In hindsight I now realise that that was a major mistake, but one I now find difficult to rectify.
Steadily my employer has returned aspects of my job role back to me, but I am finding it difficult to repair the relationships I had with my colleagues prior to the seizures occurring.
Prior to these seizures occurring I in no way felt at all discriminated against, but now my feelings have changed and I don't know why.
For a while now I have remained on a knife edge as my employer stated categorically that my contract would be terminated, if I was to experience another seizure.
Perhaps things will now start to look up, my "annus horribilis" is coming to an end and things may get back to normal.