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The Disability Equality Duty in the UK

The Disability Equality Duty (DED) is a new positive duty on all public bodies to promote disability equality.

Under this new law, all maintained primary and secondary schools, as well as all local authorities, are required to take proactive steps to ensure their disabled pupils, staff and governors, parents/carers and other people using the school are treated equally.

The new duty is about much more than physical access. It is concerned with policy development, school culture and institutional access, as well as catering for individual needs.

What schools must do

The duty to promote disability equality, or the general duty, requires all public authorities, when carrying out their functions, to have due regard to the need to:

. promote equality of opportunity

. eliminate unlawful discrimination

. eliminate disability-related harassment

. promote positive attitudes towards disabled people

. encourage disabled people's participation in public life

. take steps to meet disabled people's needs, even if this requires more favourable treatment.

Under the general duty, schools are required to look at everything they do, on a day-to-day basis, and think about how equality of opportunity for disabled people can be better promoted. This will involve all management practices and policy development.

Certain public authorities are also covered by specific duties, which set out certain measuring, action planning, and reporting mechanisms that are needed to meet the general duty.

The most important requirement of the specific duties for schools and local authorities is to produce a Disability Equality Scheme (DES). The aim of the DES is to provide a clear framework to help plan, deliver and evaluate the steps needed.

There is a statutory requirement to involve disabled people in developing the DES, and publishing it in a way that is accessible for all.

A DES must include a statement of how disabled people have been involved in developing the scheme, as well as information on how the effectiveness and impact on policies and practices will be assessed.

Deadlines vary, depending on region and type of establishment.

A full briefing document on the requirements of the DED legislation can be downloaded from the Disability Rights Commission website at www.drc-gb.org

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