The Disability Equality Duty (DED) - The Discrimination Act 2005

The Disability Discrimination Act 2005, which was passed by Parliament in April 2005, places a duty on all public bodies to promote disability equality and requires all public authorities to actively look at ways of ensuring that disabled people are treated equally.

The Disability Equality Duty (DED) came into force on 4th December 2006 and is aimed at promoting disability equality across the public sector.

The Disability Equality Duty marks a commitment towards actively promoting equality of opportunity for disabled people. This is a positive duty which builds in disability equality at the beginning of the process, rather than make adjustments at the end.

The duty covers all functions and activities, including budget setting, commissioning, procurement, regulatory functions and setting the framework within which the Organisation will deliver services.
Requirements of the disability equality duty

Disability equality schemes require organisations to consider and include the following:

• Active involvement of disabled people in the ongoing development of the scheme
• Methods for impact assessments
• Development of the action plan
• Arrangements for gathering information