Gateways to the Professions

4. The legal background

4.2 Who is a ‘disabled person’?

The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 as amended by the 2005 Act (DDA) defines a disabled person as:

‘Someone who has a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term, adverse effect on his or her ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.’

For the purposes of the Act:

  • ‘substantial’ means neither minor nor trivial
  • ‘long-term’ means that the effect of the impairment has lasted or is likely to last for at least 12 months or for the rest of the person’s life (there are special rules covering recurring or fluctuating conditions)
  • ‘normal day-to-day activities’ are listed in the Act and include mobility, manual dexterity, speech, hearing, seeing, understanding danger, and memory.

Medical schools, postgraduate deaneries and employers should use this definition when considering how to support disabled applicants, students and employees. They should also encourage a greater understanding of who is protected by the Act, and seek to protect the rights of disabled people in their use of all the services at university and medical school.

People with a range of impairments and long-term health conditions are included in this definition, such as people who are hard of hearing or have multiple sclerosis, mental health issues, cancer or HIV. Importantly, others who would not usually describe themselves as disabled people, such as those with dyslexia, may be protected by the DDA if the effects of the impairment are 'long term' 'adverse' and 'substantial' on normal day-to-day activities. There are some exclusions from the definition, including people with addictions to, or dependency on, alcohol, nicotine, or any other substance unless it has been medically prescribed. Also excluded are people who suffer with hay fever, unless the hay fever aggravates the effect of another condition.

The Guidance on Matters to be Taken into Account in Determining Questions Relating to the Definition of Disability states clearly in Section A6:

‘A disability can arise from a wide range of impairments which can be:

  • sensory impairments, such as those affecting sight or hearing
  • impairments with fluctuating or recurring effects such as rheumatoid arthritis, myalgic encephalitis (ME)/chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), fibromyalgia, depression and epilepsy
  • progressive, such as motor neurone disease, muscular dystrophy, forms of dementia and lupus (SLE)
  • organ specific, including respiratory conditions, such as asthma, and cardiovascular diseases, including thrombosis, stroke and heart disease
  • developmental, such as autistic spectrum disorders (ASD), dyslexia and dyspraxia
  • learning difficulties
  • mental health conditions and mental illnesses, such as depression, schizophrenia, eating disorders, bipolar affective disorders, obsessive compulsive disorders, as well as personality disorders and some self-harming behaviour
  • produced by injury to the body or brain.’

The definition, therefore, has a broad brush. In particular, the term covers many ‘invisible’ conditions and many common ones. Many people who are technically disabled, and so are covered by the DDA, do not describe themselves as such and so may not think of asking for reasonable adjustments.

Medical and social models of disability

The traditional medical model sees disability as a condition which may reduce the individual’s quality of life. A person’s medical diagnosis is used to define that person as well as affecting access to services and life chances. In this model, the impairment is seen as the problem.

In the social model of disability, the problem of disability lies with society, not with the disabled person. Barriers caused by attitudes in society as well as environmental and organisational barriers disable the individual. This model distinguishes between impairment (the loss of function) and disability (the discrimination arising from that impairment). Here, disability can be prevented or removed by dismantling the barriers affecting people with impairments. This is the thinking behind recent developments in disability legislation and informs the language and advice used in this guidance