What are my disability rights?

The protection against disability discrimination can be found in the Equality Act 2010 (previously the Disability Discrimination Act 1995). You have a number of different rights, which include:

• A right not to receive less favourable treatment on grounds of disability, compared to how a similar but non-disabled person would have been treated. An example might be refusing to give you a customer-facing job because you have a facial disfigurement. This kind of discrimination can never be justified.
• A duty on your employer (or future employer) to make reasonable adjustments (to, for example, physical workspace and equipment, practices or procedures) to help you access the workplace and do your job. An employer can never justify a failure to make reasonable adjustments.
• A right not to suffer unfavourable treatment for a reason arising in consequence of your disability, unless that treatment can be justified. An employer will have a defence if it can show it did not know (and could not reasonably have realised) that you are disabled. An example might be where an employer dismisses you on grounds of long-term sickness absence where the sickness amounts to a disability. The decision to dismiss is unfavourable treatment related to your disability. It will be unlawful unless the employer can objectively justify the decision. Your employer will not be able to objectively justify the decision to dismiss you unless it has already made all reasonable adjustments to help you to get back to work.