How Does The National Disability Discrimination Act Define A Disability?

Section 504 stipulates rather broadly that a person with a disability is “one who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life functions, a person who has a history or record of such an impairment, or a person who is perceived by others as having such an impairment” (US Dept. of Justice Civil Rights Division Disability Rights Section). Because impairments are not specifically named, these laws are open to interpretation and qualify anyone in need of

Medical professionals, educational psychologists and other suitably qualified specialists can diagnose the conditions usually associated with disability (including diseases, sight and hearing impairments, significant mobility difficulty, and mental health conditions or learning difficulties), but ultimately it is only a court who can decide if an individual is defined as disabled under UK law (Equality and Human Rights Commission, 2014).

According to the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, a disabled person “has a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on his ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. ” Around 11 million people in the UK are living with a limiting long term illness, impairment or disability with less than half employed. With developing technology,

The presence of medical conditions, classified as disabilities by the Americans with Disabilities Act as, “…a physical or mental impairment that

Identify legislation and policies that are designed to promote the human rights, inclusion, equality and citizenship of individuals with learning disabilities.

The day to day experiences of individuals with learning disabilities and their families are affected by the policies and legislations in place because it provides rights and entitlements for the individuals and their families. Furthermore, these rights are upheld and protected from discrimination which is very important as it gives them more opportunities. In addition to this, by offering as person-centred care it gives the individual the choice of their care and how they receive it which gives them the freedom of how they would like to live. Moreover, the policies gives the individuals an equal opportunity to access public services, employment and health care which also relates to them being able to live within their community. This is because

The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is being implemented to provide long term, high quality support to people with a permanent disability that significantly affects their communication, mobility, self-care or self-management. The Scheme focus on intensive early intervention, particularly for people where there is good evidence that it will substantially improve functioning, or delay or lessen a decline in functioning and comprehensive information and referral service, to assist people with a disability who need access to mainstream, disability, specialist and community supports. (Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia, 2008)

This states that a person with a disability must not be treated less fairly than someone who is able-bodied.

This act bought together a range of anti-discrimination acts to protect people, children and young people against discrimination for having a disability, the colour of their skin or their gender.

Furthermore, Secretary Steve Turner points out that the real agenda of NDIS is to free the government’s responsibility over people with disability. He states that disability services will not deliver the promise of choice for people, and instead suggested that privatising public services does not provide promising social services as it will decrease accountability from the government; cost more money in the long run and delivery no guarantee of success (Probonoaustralia.com.au, 2013). Moreover, it is also reinforced by Woolf (2013) who argues that although the NDIS has been sold as an historic advance towards ‘individualised support’ through the provision of ‘choice and control ‘ for Australians living in disability, it not considered a effective scheme for everyone. The care is only provided to limited people with significant or profound disability, and thu only 410,000 peoplle out of 4 million people with diability with be served. Kerry, a mother living with children with disability expresses the anxiety of not receiving enough because the children are not ‘disabled enough’ (Woolf, 2013). Furthermore, Additionally, Laura criticises the belief that NDIS will help to normalise life, which she states is also equally hindered by the “planners” who are supposed to work closely with the clients in order to identify the supports that is required to make progress towards the person’s goals. Although it sounds non-intruding, the players are to ensure that the choices the participants makes are reasonable and necessary, hence depicting bureaucratic aspect of the scheme (Woolf,

Individuals with learning disabilities used to be separated from society in institutions, long-stay hospitals and workhouses to be cared for, their independence was taken away and decisions were made for them by their care provider, which is now recognised as depriving their liberty. Care providers are now led by legislation, codes of conduct, policies and procedures to protect their liberty, human rights and provide equality and individualised person centred care. By looking at past ways of working, care providers are able to identify what was wrong in the service provision and identify ways of improvement to meet modern standards of care. This has helped to change the attitudes and beliefs within society, improving the individuals experiences

Disability in a socio-cultural context can be defined as "a barrier to participation of people with impairments or chronic illnesses arising from an interaction of the impairment or illness with discriminatory attitudes, cultures, policies or institutional practices" (Booth, 2000). The traditional view of disability often focuses on the individual, highlighting incapacities or failings, a defect, or impairment. This focus creates obstacles to participation on equal terms since an individual who seems to lack certain capacities may not be able to attain autonomy.

All they want is to take part of society as a normal individual. The disability-movement has fought for the disabilities rights throughout the years and has achieved goals such as accommodation of architectural infrastructures to serve better people who are physical impairments. The public policies have been great accomplishments because it has helped people with disabilities to be part of society. The disability-movement points out the healthcare finance policies have taken freedom away from the disability community, “ Health-care financing policies force disabled people into Institutions and nursing homes rather than funding independent living. Income-maintenance and public health-insurance policies include “disincentives” that penalize disabled individuals for trying to work productively.”(p.4). The government has done a great job on protecting disabled individuals’ rights. However, the health-care system has isolated this group even more by restricting the level of productivity that they have within the system, as a result this medical model marginalizes this group of people and this program available for this community does not fully address their issues.

According to The equality Act 2010 a disability is define as having a physical or mental impairment that has

Disability in Australia has progressively become a more recognised social issue in todays contemporary society. The perception and ideas of disability has transitioned from one of institutionalisation to one of extensive support, which has lead to the development of many disability policies within Australia that aims to holistically meet the needs of disabled individuals. The development of three central disability policies, The National Disability Insurance scheme, National Disability Strategy 2010-2020 and the National Disability Agreement 2012 has altered the services available to disabled citizens, how supports are implemented, the wellbeing of disabled individuals and societal attitudes towards disability. The policy area conns