Public sector guidelines 'not recognising disability laws'
14-12-2006
An independent legal review of public sector profession guidelines by a disability organisation has claimed that they are in danger of breaching anti-discrimination laws.
The Disability Rights Commission (DRC) examined the guidelines that decide whether a person can train and practice in public sector professions such as teachers, nurses and social workers.
However, the investigation found that there was no recognition of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) in some sectors' statutory documents, despite the fact that they were compiled after the DDA was passed in 1995.
It also found that the terms 'health' and 'fitness' were defined in confusing ways across sectors, leaving it open for stereotypical assumptions to be made about a person's fitness to do a job.
"We would not accept any of these professions being all white, all male or all female. They should not be no-go areas for disabled people either," said chairman of the DRC, Bert Massie.
"Yet people who are disabled or have long-term health conditions, as the cases we have come across illustrate, are being denied opportunities to progress and these professions are all the poorer for it."
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