30 years of disability discrimination law

This year marks 30 years since the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) was introduced and this was remembered at the TUC Disabled Workers Conference through a motion from the Unison trade union which was moved by Lady Lola Oyewusi

My UCU colleague Christina Paine seconded the motion and here is what she said in support of the motion

As disabled people we want a chance not to hide, but to thrive.

Today, we hear that 4 out of 10 disabled workers are bullied or discriminated against.

Disabled people are still more likely to be unemployed, underpaid, and excluded. We are more likely to live in poverty. And we are still being forced to fight for the most basic adjustments that are our legal right, not a favour.

We are a movement Conference, fighting for Justice. This motion calls for the TUC Disabled Workers Committee to use the 30th anniversary of the DDA as a platform for action to create real transformative change.

I want to make 5 points. To start with, in the words of Bob Marley, we need to understand our history of disability rights and fights.

1. Legal history

Thirty years ago the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 1995 gave disabled people legally enforceable rights for the first time in employment, education and when using services.

For the first time we had legal recognition that discrimination against disabled people was wrong—and that it must stop!!!

This was a landmark moment Conference. It didn’t end the injustice.

Fifteen years later a Labour government introduced the Equality Act in 2010 which although deeply flawed from an inclusive legal perspective has marked a huge step forward. For the first time, it put disability discrimination on an equal legal footing to racism, sexism and other forms of oppression. Many people believed that the new law would improve life for disabled people, but our employers constantly refuse to meet its most basic requirements. It gave us tools, but we’ve had to fight like hell to use them.

We’ve made progress, but we are nowhere near equality.

Under the Tories, as described so eloquently yesterday we have suffered a 14 year war on disabled peoples living standards and the right to exist independently under the Tories. It has been a shocking battle and we all bear the scars!

· They scrapped the disability discrimination questionnaire, which helped us challenge workplace injustice.

· They’ve left the disability pay gap unmonitored and unchecked. The desire for disability equality is still a long fight for us - a dream we hold on to.

2. My experience

I stand here not just as a trade unionist, but as a disabled person whose life has been shaped by the law, and the new developments of the Equality Act, but also by the lack of meaningful engagement with it in our workplaces and Society.

I myself cannot work without PIP and access to work and 20 years on a Zero Hours Contract.

We heard yesterday about threats to access to work, and that after 30 years, we still do not have reasonable adjustments in our workplaces.

After 20 years of fighting, I still cannot get proper support and assistance, which is similar for all casualised workers.

Some of us mistakenly thought there might be some hope in a new Labour government - it couldn’t be worse than the Tories - right. But….

3. War on the poorest: Toxic Narrative

Disabled people are already poorer than a decade ago. A report to the UN by disability organisations in August 2023 showed the real terms value of UK benefit payments had fallen by over ten percent since 2010.

Research by disability charity Scope shows that the average UK disabled household faces extra costs of £1122 per month - making disabled people “almost three times as likely to live in material deprivation than the rest of the population.”

With 1 in 10 people of working-age receiving health-related benefits, UCU members are among those threatened by the cuts.

Labour’s answer as the Government now is more scapegoating – of migrants, muslims and now of trans people. For many people, the most shocking betrayal is the savage assault on disability benefits. Cuts to Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and incapacity benefit threaten to push at least 250,000 disabled people into poverty and eliminate many of us from our hard-won jobs and independence. We cannot let this happen.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting has tried to divert attention from the attacks by claiming that the real problem is an “overdiagnosis” of mental distress and conditions such as autism and ADHD. But the real problem is that more and more of us are struggling to cope in an increasingly barbaric and hostile world

The Labour government’s toxic narrative - that disabled people are work-shy or exaggerating their difficulties – ignores the reality of our communities and workplaces.

Across post-16 education, staff report long delays for essential support like screen readers, ergonomic equipment, hybrid work arrangements, or flexible hours. Too often, reasonable adjustments never arrive, and disabled workers increasingly face job insecurity and loss of hours.

We now have a Labour government who are targeting disabled people with brutal, obscene cuts.

4. Precarious workers

And the most vulnerable group of workers whose rights are disenfranchised regularly are precarious workers and those in the gig economy.

These are the workers juggling multiple jobs just to survive. The ones punished for being ill, penalised for needing adjustments, and often excluded completely from basic protections afforded to others.

Disabled people are overrepresented in these sectors, because when the formal labour market shuts us out, we are forced into insecure work—into app-based jobs, agency contracts, and “self-employment” with no rights.

This is structural discrimination in action.

This is why we demand change—not tweaks, not consultations, but real, structural reform.

5. What we can do?

We think the government needs to commit to disabled people through

a dedicated Minister for Disabled People,

a review of Personal Independence Payments (PIP)

and solid plans to monitor the disability pay gap are still to be introduced.

We need to hold this Labour government to account!

Under the Equality Act 2010, the government has a Public Sector Equality Duty - a legal obligation to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity, and foster good relations. The government at present are failing on all three.

We must hold this Labour government’s feet to the fire - because if we don’t, we’ll be back here in five years giving the same speech. We must call for change and that change must be truly transformative.

So we are calling for:

One: A dedicated Minister for Disabled People—We need someone at the Cabinet table with real power. Someone who listens, understands, and acts.

Two: The full implementation of the Disability Employment Charter. We want to see the disability confidence scheme fully reviewed and not as a tick-box exercise.

Three: Bring back the disability discrimination questionnaire. It’s a basic legal tool that helps disabled workers fight back when we’re mistreated. Without it, justice is just out of reach.

Four: The Disability Unit’s Stakeholder Network is broken. It doesn’t represent us. It excludes the voices of disabled people and cuts out trade unions.

We demand a full review, and we demand it now.

Conference, let’s build the fight back and take the government on for our right to live good lives and to be who we are!

Resources

Ramping Up Rights

Disability History