The concept of disability discrimination and its legal construction

The purpose of this paper is to examine the key issues surrounding the legal construction of the concept of discrimination based on disability. This paper examines these issues in the context of the European Community’s framework directive on equal treatment in employment and occupation , in order to highlight the particular needs which must be addressed in developing laws to combat such discrimination. Where relevant, the paper contrasts the approach necessary for disability based discrimination with the traditional approach in relation to sex and race discrimination. The paper therefore examines the following areas: (i) the purpose of enacting non-discrimination laws in the context of disability; (ii) the definition of ‘disability’ as a ground of discrimination; (iii) the concepts of direct and indirect discrimination; and (iv) the duty to provide reasonable accommodations.</p

The Framework Directive for equal treatment in employment and occupation: an analysis from a disability rights perspective

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the recently adopted directive establishing a general framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation from a disability rights perspective. The adoption of this directive represents merely the first stage in the prohibition of discrimination on the grounds falling within its protective remit. The next and arguably most important stage is the implementation of this directive into national law. Of the protected grounds, disability offers what is arguably the greatest challenge for national authorities in the implementation process. It demands flexibility in the legislative approach traditionally used to combat discrimination as well as the introduction of new legal concepts into the national legal order of most Member States. Whilst European Disability Non-Governmental Organisations, together with the European Parliament, are calling on the Commission of the European Union to propose a more expansive directive prohibiting disability discrimination, it is first crucial to ensure that the core aspects of the recently adopted directive are clearly understood and correctly implemented from a disability rights perspective. These core aspects include the definition of disability, the concepts of direct and indirect discrimination, and the duty to provide reasonable accommodations. Given that these core aspects will be common to any disability non-discrimination law, no amount of coverage beyond the context of employment and occupation will compensate for the subsequent loss of opportunity to make a real difference to the lives of disabled people if they are not appropriately addressed.</p

Why is a European Law on Disability Discrimination important

EU law offers great potential for advancing the rights and interests of disabled people living within the European Union, but this potential is yet to be fully realised. A major step forward in this regard is the recently adopted Framework Directive for equal treatment in employment and occupation – a measure constituting the first European law on disability discrimination. Through a brief outline of what may be described as the two main strands of EU activity from which an advancement in disability rights can be gained, namely the ‘human rights’ and the ‘design for all’ strands, this presentation seeks to place the Framework Directive within the broader context of an evolving EU disability policy. Falling squarely within the ‘human rights strand’, this directive is examined both in terms of its importance to disabled people as a European law, as well as its place within the wider disability agenda of the European Union. By so doing, this presentation aims to provide the audience with a greater awareness of the potential proffered by EU law for the advancement of disability rights and, as a result, a greater facility to fully exploit that potential. Whilst the nature of the question set for this presentation necessitates a generic approach to disability, specific reference will be made to learning disabilities where pertinent.</p

Between social policy and Union citizenship: the Framework Directive on equal treatment in employment

In December 2000, the Council adopted the Framework Directive forbidding discrimination on grounds of religion or belief, disability, age and sexual orientation in the field of employment. The Directive adopted Article 13 EC as its legal basis. However, there are strong arguments suggesting that this was not the correct choice of legal basis; in particular, the Social Chapter of the EC Treaty (Title XI) provided an alternative legal foundation, including different legislative processes (co-decision and the social dialogue). This article first examines the legal grounds requiring a different legal basis for the Directive and then explores the wider political imperatives that may explain the preference of the EU institutions for relying instead on Article 13 EC.</p

Enforcing the rights and freedoms of disabled people: the role of transnational law (Part I)

In Part I of this article we examined the actual and potential application of global international law (GIL) to the development of rights and freedoms for people with disabilities. We concluded that there is currently no binding and accessible GIL instrument that specifically relates to this group. Instead, an emphasis was placed upon those instruments that have a generic application to human rights and a clear potential application to the protection of disability rights primarily through their provisions relating to non-discrimination. Moreover, we stressed that the instruments of GIL also have the potential to provide an indirect benefit to disabled people as tools of influence and persuasion in the development of non-discrimination and affirmative action empowerment programmes at both a national and international level. In Part II, we apply a similar analysis to the opportunities offered by European international law (EIL).</p

Investigations using data in Alabama from ERTS-A

There are no author-identified significant results in this report

Fork-decompositions of matroids

For the abstract of this paper, please see the PDF file