Hi
The following may be of interest to those who have not already seen it.
Best Wishes
Mark.
-----Original Message-----
From: [log in to unmask]
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of GLADNET
Sent: 10 January 2001 15:07
Subject: v. 6, # 3 - EU Outlaws Disability Discrimination
The following article has been re-printed from the Autumn 2000 issue of
"Update", the bulletin of the Employers' Forum on Disability, Nutmeg House,
60 Gainsford Street, London SE1 2NY, UK, Tel: 020 7403 3020 / Fax: 020 7403
0404, website www.employers-forum.co.uk with their kind permission.
GLADNET members seeking further information about the Employers' Forum are
invited to contact the organization at the above coordinates.
EU Acts to Outlaw Disability Dscrimination in Employment
ON 17 October the European Union agreed a directive to its member nations
requiring them to introduce laws banning discrimination in employment on
the grounds of disability (undefined), age, sexual orientation or religion.
The directive will not require any fundamental alterations to the DDA
(Disability Discrimination Act). However, because the directive does not
exempt small employers or some particular occupations, it will require the
government to extend the DDA to these areas.
The Forum welcomes the directive, as it marks an important extension of
disabled people's rights across the European Union. It will also provide a
level playing field for companies competing in Europe, and is particularly
helpful for Forum members with multinational businesses.
It will require a considerable education process in European countries. Up
to now, the sole response to disabled people's employment aspirations has
been a quota system, an approach fundamentally opposed to the directive's
emphasis on removing the practical harriers which prevent equal access to
mainstream employment.
The Forum's concerns - shared by the CBI - about the content of the draft
directive seem to have been resolved. The directive will not now require
the UK to introduce the concept of 'indirect discrimination' into the DDA;
rather, employers can continue to address discrimination by making
reasonable adjustments for individuals.
Forum Chief Executive Susan Scott-Parker commented: "We are very pleased
that the government has been able to ensure the basic principles which
underpin Europe's most effective anti-discrimination legislation - the DDA
-will continue in place."
Other EU Actions
In May the EC put forward a raft of proposals, beginning a move towards a
more rounded approach to disability - promoting equality of opportunities
though the removal of artificial, environmental and attitlidinal barriers.
At EU level the just announced recent inclusion of non-discrimination
provision covering disability in the Treaty of Amsterdam provides the basis
for a new rights-based approach to disability.
The EC recognises that its own activities and programmes across all the
different policy areas can cause access problems for disabled people. The
EC will:
• seek to ensure the participation of people with disabilities in
mainstream programmes and provide specific measures in order to meet their
particular needs where necessary to ensure true equality of opportunity
• take measures to open employment within European institutions to disabled
people
• seek to use EC procurement activities to promote accessible goods and
services
• ensure that projects considered for EU funding incorporate approved
accessibility standards
The EC also emphasises the need for co-ordinated policy vision across the
fields of employment, education and vocational training, transport, the
internal market, information society, new technologies and consumer policy.
This would include the following steps:
Accessible Transport: In 1997 the EC adopted a proposal for a directive
which lays down that buses and coaches used for urban services must be
accessible to people with limited mobility, including those using
wheelchairs. To complement this major step forward, the EC will draw up
guidelines on improved provision tor disabled people in public and private
transport vehicles and transport facilities.
Architectural Barriers The EC will identify areas where it would be
appropriate to adopt EU mandatory accessibility standards for the built
environment and will encourage every public authority to do so.
The Digital Divide. The EC proposes that all the European institutions and
the Member States endorse the existing Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)
guidelines, making the design and content of all public websites accessible
to people with disability.
Finally, the EC proposed that 2003 is declared the European Year of
Disabled Citizens.
Carl Raskin
Executive Director
Global Applied Disability Research and Information Network on
Employment and Training
GLADNET Association
Box 612 Station "B"
Ottawa, Ontario
Canada
K1P 5P7
tel: 613 825 6193
fax: 613 825 2953
E-mail : [log in to unmask]
Aldred H. Neufeldt, President
Carl Raskin, Executive Director
visit the GLADNET Web Site at http://www.gladnet.org
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