What constitutes a disability under the law?
Under the Law, disability is a long-term impairment which can affect a person’s ability to participate or engage in activities such as:
1. Work;
2. Using public transport;
3. Eating out;
4. Shopping;
5. Staying in a hotel; and
6. any other area of life covered by the Law.
An impairment may be physical, mental, intellectual or sensory. Employers and service providers should think broadly about a range of impairments, such as:
1. mobility impairments, including stick users and wheelchair users
2. visual impairments
3. hearing impairments
4. limited dexterity, e.g. arthritis
5. mental health
6. learning difficulties
To qualify as ‘long-term’, the impairment must last, or be expected to last, for six months or more (or for the rest of the individual’s life). Here are some examples:
Justin has been diagnosed with cancer and told he will need to undergo treatment over a six-month period. This will count as a disability. The condition is expected to last for at least six months and has the potential to affect his ability to participate or engage in the areas of life covered by the Law. It does not matter what his actual symptoms are. It is the fact that the condition can have that effect that is important.
Mark is diagnosed with bipolar disorder. He has periods when he is highly effective and other periods where he finds it very difficult to come into work at all. It may be that those periods do not in themselves last for six months, but he will still be disabled. His condition is long-term even if the periodic effects of it are not. It is the condition that must last for at least six months, rather than the effect of it.
A severe disfigurement is a disability under the Law even if it does not affect a person’s ability to participate or engage in activities.
Tattoos and decorative piercings will not count as disfigurements.