Disability – The Protected Characteristics

It is true that most of us will suffer ill health at some stage during our lives. However, these are typically temporary conditions that don’t have a sustained impact on the way we live from day-to-day. Under the Equality Act 2010 a person is classified as disabled if they have a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. The UK Government’s most recently published Family Resources Survey, which collected information on a representative sample of private households, has found that 21% of people reported a disability. When weighted, this constitutes 13.3 million people. Additionally, in the report, it was found that Wales was the joint highest region with the highest percentage of people reporting a disability. It found that 25% of people in Wales reported having a disability and when weighted, this adds up to 0.8 million people.

TUC’s ‘Disability and “hidden” impairments in the workplace report found that 24% of disabled respondents felt that disability was treated negatively in their workplace.