Disability Discrimination Act (1992)
Action Plan

What is the Disability Discrimination Act (1992)?

Object of the DDA

What is disability

What is disability discrimination?

What does the DDA cover at Deakin University?

Who does the DDA cover?

Exemptions to the DDA

Inclusive practices
DDA Action Plan 2000-2001 (82.6 KB)

What is the Disability Discrimination Act (1992)?

The Disability Discrimination Act (1992), or DDA, is Commonwealth legislation that makes discrimination on the grounds of disability unlawful in a wide range of situations.

The DDA requires that people who have a disability be given equal opportunity to participate in the full range of economic, social, cultural and political activities that occur across society.

Object of the DDA

The objects of the Act are to:

• eliminate as far as possible, discrimination against persons on the grounds of disability in the areas of employment, accommodation, education, or access to public premises, clubs and sport; provision of goods, facilities, services and land; existing laws and administration of Commonwealth laws and programs;
• ensure that those persons who have a disability have the same rights before the law as the rest of the community; and
• promote recognition and acceptance within the community of the principle that persons with a disability have the same human rights as the rest of the community

What is disability?

The definition of ‘disability’ used in the DDA is very broad. It includes physical, intellectual, psychiatric, sensory, neurological and learning disabilities. Disability can be permanent or temporary. It includes some conditions not usually thought of as disabilities.

Disability includes:

• Loss of physical or mental functions ( e.g. a person who has quadriplegia, a broken leg, epilepsy, brain injury or a vision or hearing impairment).
• Loss of part of the body (e.g. a person with an amputation or a woman who has had a hysterectomy).
• Infectious and non-infectious diseases and illnesses (e.g. a person with AIDS, hepatitis or a person with allergies).
• The malfunction, malformation or disfigurement of a part of a person’s body ( e.g. a person with diabetes or asthma, or a person with a birthmark or scar).
• A condition, which means a person learns differently from other people (e.g. a person with autism, dyslexia, or an intellectual disability).
• Any condition which affects a person’s thought processes, understanding of reality, emotions or judgment or which results in disturbed behaviour (e.g. a person with a mental illness, neurosis, or personality disorder).
  The definition covers conditions that exist now, have existed in the past, or may exist in the future, or which are assumed of a person, for example that a man who is gay is also HIV positive.

What is disability discrimination?

Discrimination on the basis of disability means being treated less favourably and unfairly because of a disability, or being treated equally when that leads to unequal outcomes. Disability discrimination includes:

• imposing unfair terms or conditions on an activity;
• denying access to a place, activity or service;
• giving others preferential treatment;
• terminating an activity;
• discriminatory questions; and
• harassment.

Discrimination can be direct and intentional, or indirect and unintentional.

What does the DDA cover at Deakin University?

The following areas are covered:

• employment (e.g. getting a job, equal pay, training, promotion);
• education (e.g. enrolling in a school, participation in and access to a course);
• access to premises used by the public (e.g. libraries, restaurants, shops, offices);
• provision of goods, services and facilities (e.g. shops, cafes, banks, administrative services);
• accommodation (e.g. student residences);
• clubs (e.g. membership, access to facilities); and
• sport (e.g. when wanting to play or when playing a sport).

Who does the DDA cover?

The DDA prohibits discrimination against a person who has a disability, and also against a person who is an associate of a person who has a disability (e.g. a spouse, relative, carer, or a person in a business, sporting or recreational relationship with a person who has a disability).

The DDA also covers being discriminated against because an assistant, interpreter, reader or a trained animal accompanies a person who has a disability, or because they use a palliative or therapeutic device or an auxiliary aid (e.g. a wheelchair or hearing aid).

Complaints of disability discrimination can be made to HREOC.

Exemptions to the DDA

Discrimination in employment-related areas is unlawful except where:

• the person cannot do the inherent requirements of the work; and/or
• the person needs adjustments/modifications that would be an unjustifiable hardship for the employer.

Discrimination in education is unlawful except where:

• the person needs adjustments that would be an unjustifiable hardship for the education provider.

Inclusive practices

The DDA prescribes ‘inclusive practices’ in mainstream services rather than ‘special’ or parallel services to meet the needs of people who have a disability. This approach reflects the potential we all have to be affected by disability at some stage in our lives, and the recognition that there are many ways to enable all people to be included in their chosen activities.

Achieving a truly inclusive environment, where the needs of all people are met with no distinction, is sometimes a staged process. For example, initially a service provider may set aside a budget allocation and a procedure for meeting the needs of people who have a disability. As the mainstream service adapts to become flexible enough to cater to all needs, interim measures become unnecessary.

Planning for inclusive and flexible services can benefit everyone and, most likely, saves major expenses in the longer term. Examples of this include the accessible design of buildings, which will not only assist those using wheelchairs, but will also assist people pushing prams and trolleys. Modifications to existing facilities to allow access for people who have a disability are generally much more expensive than building an accessible environment in the first place.

Another very topical example is the design of webpages and online materials. If we ensure that these materials are designed accessibly (e.g. with text alternatives to graphics which can then be read by text synthesisers for people who cannot read the screen) they will also assist people who use their mobile phone online and those who turn off the graphics while doing searches to speed up the process.

Sometimes a task will require some specialist input, such as consultation with Disability Resource Centre (DRC) staff, or specialist modification so that it will ‘include’ a person. However, it remains the responsibility of the service provider to provide a service which is inclusive of a person who has a disability.