Disability and Equality Law in Britain: The Role of Reasonable Adjustment

353 Pages·2008·1.44 MB·English

by  Anna Lawson

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DISABILITY AND EQUALITY LAW IN BRITAIN
Theconceptofreasonableadjustment(alternativelyknownasreasonableaccom-
modation) is rapidly gaining significance for countries throughout Europe and
beyond.Directive 2000/78/EC required all EU Member States to ensure that,by
the end of 2006 at the latest, reasonable accommodation obligations would
operate to protect disabled people from unequal treatment in the context of
employment.ThenewUnitedNationsConventionontheRightsofPersonswith
Disabilities will require ratifying States to impose such obligations in a broad
rangeof situations.
Thisbookprovidesadetailedandcriticalanalysisofthecurrentandpotential
roleof reasonableadjustmentdutiesinBritishlaw.Itexploresthenotionof the
anticipatory reasonable adjustment duty—a notion which is, in many respects,
distinctively British. It probes the relationship between reasonable adjustment
and other concepts, including indirect discrimination and positive discrimina-
tion. Drawing particularly on US debates, potential sources of resistance to the
duties are exposed and an attempt is made to suggest pre-emptive counter
strategies.Attention is also given to issues of legal reform and rationalisation—
issues of immense topicality and importance in view of the recent British move
towardsasingleEqualityAct.
In short, this book examines the current and potential role of reasonable
adjustment duties in Britain.It will be of interest to lawyers,policy-makers and
students working in the field of disability rights.It will also be of interest to all
thoseconcernedwiththeoperationanddevelopmentof equalitylawandpolicy
moregenerally,bothinBritainandbeyond.
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Disability and
Equality Law in
Britain
The Role of Reasonable
Adjustment
Anna Lawson
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Thisbookisdedicatedtomyparents,BruceandCatherineLawson.Iowe
everything to their unfailing love, support and guidance. Without the
endlesshourstheyspentreadingacademicmaterialontotapeformeover
manyyears,Iwouldnothavebeenabletoattenduniversity—letaloneto
have had a university career. Their selfless readiness to help anybody in
trouble, their willingness to stand up for fairness and compassion, and
theirtremendouswarmthandgenerosityofspiritareinspirational.Sotoo
istheirimmensecapacityforhardworkandmanyotherthingsbesides.I
have greatly valued the interest they have taken in the progress of this
book.
Thebookisinmemoryof Hamlet—myfirstguidedogwithwhomIhad
thehonourtospendnineandahalfyears.Afterawell-earnedretirement,
inwhichhereignedovermyparent’shouse,hediedon23July2008while
Iwaskeepinghimcompanyandinthefinalstagesof updatingthisbook.
‘Goodnight,sweet prince,and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!’
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Acknowledgements
ThisbookwasmadepossiblebyaperiodofresearchleavefundedbytheArtsand
Humanities Research Council. The assistance of my team of support workers,
fundedthroughtheAccesstoWorkscheme,wasalsoabsolutelyvital.Sotoowere
theservicesprovidedbytheRNIBandUniversityofLeedsTranscriptionCentre.
As always, I am very grateful indeed to the people who acted as my support
workers—all of whom are friends who put in a degree of effort and skill which
farexceededthepay.Accordingly,IwouldliketothankHelenaandMelaniefor
spendingmonthsoverasteamingscannerandforbeingwillingtoworklongand
unsociablehourswhenIneededmaterialurgently.IwouldliketothankSarahfor
her meticulous proofreading and her willingness to trek to my office at short
noticeinemergencies.IwouldalsoliketothankClareforherreference-checking
and for staying up all night to help finalise the book and print it out and,
especially,forkeepinghersenseof humourthroughout!
SpecialthanksareduetoDavid.Notonlyhasheallowedmetousehishouse
asapeacefulhaveninwhichtowork(evenwhenIwasatmymoststressedand
anti-social)buthehasalsoprovidedexperthelp,atallstagesofthebook,witha
huge range of different tasks.He has made awkward pdf documents accessible,
navigated inaccessible websites, battled with the eccentricities of formatting
which dogged the earlier drafts, proofread and found and checked countless
references.He has worked on this book almost as hard as I have and I certainly
couldnothavewrittenitwithouthim.
The book has benefited greatly from the extremely helpful comments and
insightsofLisaWaddingtonandCarolineGooding.Iamdeeplygratefultothem
for taking the trouble to wade through an earlier draft at times in which they
werebothalreadyunderconsiderablepressure.IamalsoverygratefultoDagmar
SchiekandColinLowfortheircommentsonpartsof anearlierdraftandforall
theirhelp.SincerethanksarealsoduetoJennyWhite,DavidSparrowandMartin
Crick—for providing me with various documents and pieces of information—
andtoSandraFredmanforsupportingmyAHRCapplication.
Iwouldliketothankmyfamily,friendsandcolleaguesfortheirpatience,their
understanding and their support. In particular, I would like to thank Amrita
(who has also been writing a book) and Sarah (who has been writing a
dissertation) for their solidarity; Michael,for the wisdom of an old hand; Jane,
forallthelosttexts;andJulietforherremarkablestrengthandsparkle.
Finally,Iwouldliketoacknowledgetheinvaluableinputof RichardHartand
hiscolleagues(especiallyRachelTurner,MelHamill,TomAdams,JoChoulerton
vii
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and Rachel O’Dowd).Their combination of the personal touch and scrupulous
professionalismisuniqueinmyexperience.Ihavebeenconstantlysurprisedby
thedegreeofcarewhichtheyhavetakenandthelevelofsupportwhichtheyhave
provided.
viii
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Contents
Acknowledgements vii
TableofCases xv
TableofLegislation xxi
1 Introduction 1
1. PurposeandScope 1
2. TheEmergenceof ReasonableAccommodationDutiesinthe
UnitedStates 5
3. TheEmergenceandLocationof BritishReasonable
AdjustmentDuties 6
4. ProgressTowardsaSingleEqualityCommissionanda
SingleEqualityAct
4.1 EqualityCommissions 8
4.2 EqualityAct 9
5. TheSocialModelof Disability 10
6. Structureof theBook 12
2 DutiestoMakeAdjustmentsandHumanRights 15
1. Introduction 15
2. TheRoleof ReasonableAdjustmentinEnsuringtheGenuine
Universalityof HumanRights 17
2.1 TheTraditionalInvisibilityof DisabledPeople 17
2.2 EqualApplicationof HumanRights 19
2.3 ReasonableAdjustmentandtheHumanRightsof Disabled
People 23
3. ReasonableAdjustmentsundertheUnitedNationsConventionon
theRightsof PersonswithDisabilities 25
3.1 PurposesandObligations 25
3.1.1 TheClarificationof ExistingRights 25
3.1.2 GeneralPrinciplesandObligations 27
3.2 ReasonableAdjustmentundertheCRPD 30
4. ReasonableAdjustmentandHumanRightsWithinthe
Councilof Europe 34
4.1 TheCouncilof Europe 34
4.2 ReasonableAdjustmentandtheECHR 36
4.2.1 TheECHRandtheHumanRightsAct1998 36
ix
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