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More People Protected From Discrimination

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This website has been developed by the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland with the help of a number of local organisations which support disabled people.

The site aims to provide information about changes to disability discrimination law which are being introduced under the Disability Discrimination (Northern Ireland) Order 2006 (DDO).  Some changes took effect in January 2007.  Others came into force on 31 October and 31 December 2007.  Further changes  came into force on the 5th March for private clubs.  New regulations have come into force for private clubs and you can click on clubs to find out more information.  A new publication on these changes is available free of charge from the Equality Commission. New statutory guidance on matters related to definition of a disability for Northern Ireland  is available on this website from the 4th of April 2008.

The Equality Commission is responsible for enforcing a wide range of anti-discrimination law in Northern Ireland, including the law on disability discrimination. For further information, see our website or contact us using the contact details on this site.If you have a disability yourself, are the parent or carer of someone with a disability, or support or advise people with disabilities, the new law may affect you as it provides new rights. If you are an employer or service provider who has to comply with disability discrimination law, the DDO may have implications for the way you treat disabled job applicants and employees, or customers.

The DDO is short for the Disability Discrimination (Northern Ireland) Order 2006. This Order updates the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA). The DDA already protects people from discrimination on grounds of disability in many areas (eg. in work, education and the provision of goods, facilities and services). However, the DDO 2006 extends protection from discrimination to people and situations that were not previously covered.

The DDO makes changes to existing disability discrimination law in relation to the following:

Download a summary of all the changes made by the DDO 2006.

Help and Advice

The Equality Commission can provide information and advice to anyone who needs to know about their rights or responsibilities under disability discrimination law. Our advice service also covers the law in other areas, for example, sex, race, religious belief and political opinion, sexual orientation and age.

A key change in the DDO (NI) 2006 is that people with conditions such as cancer, HIV, and MS are now protected from the point their illness is diagnosed. People with mental ill health no longer have to prove that their condition is clinically well recognised.

We have included relevant information for these categories - just click on the quick links on this page.

Useful Publications

Equality Commission's publications on disability.

Acknowledgements

The Equality Commission acknowledges the involvement and support of the following who helped us develop this microsite:
Action Mental Health, Aware NI, NIAMH, CAUSE, Disability Action, Disability Sport (NI),Employers Forum on Disability(NI), Rethink, HIV Support Group, CAPRICORN, Ulster Cancer Foundation, MS Society (Foyle), Action MS, Clic Sargent, NI Cancer Foundation, Belfast Trust, Macmillan Cancer Information Centre City Hospital, Marie Curie and Macmillan .