✊ Rights, not charity
The BCODP argued that disabled people wanted equal rights, not pity. It supported the social model: if a wheelchair user cannot get on a bus, the problem is the bus, not the person.
Changes in Opportunity and Culture, 1986-2010 » Disabled People's Rights and Disability Discrimination
What you'll learn this session
Study time: 30 minutes
Edexcel spec: Paper 2 Section B, Breadth study B8, Key topic 5
- What the British Council of Organisations of Disabled People was and what it campaigned for
- Why disability discrimination was a barrier to change
- What the Disability Discrimination Act (1995) did, and where it fell short
- How to explain two ways in which two laws were different
🔒 Unlock Full Course Content
Sign up to access the complete lesson and track your progress!
Unlock This CourseDisabled people take charge
By the 1980s, laws such as the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act (1970) had helped some disabled people. But most of the help was organised by charities, councils and the government, and people without disabilities usually made the decisions. Many disabled people felt that they were being treated as people to be pitied, not as citizens with rights.
In 1981 disabled people set up the British Council of Organisations of Disabled People (BCODP). It was an umbrella group for organisations that were run by disabled people themselves, not by charities speaking on their behalf. The year was well timed: 1981 was the International Year of Disabled Persons, which put the issue in the news.
Key terms:
- Disability discrimination: treating a disabled person unfairly because of their disability, for example refusing them a job or building a place they cannot enter.
- Social model of disability: the idea that people are disabled mainly by barriers in society, such as steps with no ramp, rather than by their own bodies.
- Reasonable adjustments: sensible changes, such as a ramp or a different desk, that stop a disabled person being put at a disadvantage.
What the BCODP campaigned for
📜 A law against discrimination
Its main aim was a law that made disability discrimination illegal, in the way that the Race Relations Act (1965) and the Sex Discrimination Act had outlawed other kinds. It lobbied MPs and joined protests and demonstrations.
The BCODP also backed research, published in 1991, which showed how widely disabled people met discrimination in jobs, transport, housing and education. Evidence like this helped to answer the claim that a new law was not needed.
Its impact was real but limited. It gave disabled people a united voice that politicians could not ignore, and it changed the argument from charity to rights. However, it was a small organisation without much money, and it could not pass laws itself. That needed the government.
Disability discrimination: a barrier to change
By the early 1990s, disabled people still faced barriers that no law stopped:
- Work: an employer could refuse a job to a disabled applicant for being disabled, and it was perfectly legal.
- Buildings and transport: many shops, offices, buses and trains could not be used by wheelchair users. The 1970 Act had only asked for access where it was "practicable and reasonable".
- Services: a pub, shop or cinema could turn a disabled person away.
- Attitudes: many people still saw disabled people as helpless and in need of care.
This was a barrier to change because the law gave disabled people nothing to use against unfair treatment. Earlier laws, such as the Disabled Persons (Employment) Act (1944), told employers to hire a quota of disabled people but did not make discrimination itself illegal.
The Disability Discrimination Act (1995)
Several bills to ban disability discrimination were put to Parliament as private members' bills in the early 1990s, but they failed. In 1994 one such bill was blocked by the government. Disabled people held angry demonstrations outside Parliament and the issue could no longer be ignored. In 1995 the Conservative government under John Major brought in its own law, the Disability Discrimination Act, which became law in November 1995.
What the Act did
- It defined disability as a physical or mental impairment with a substantial and long-term effect on normal day-to-day activities.
- It made it illegal for an employer to treat a disabled person less favourably because of their disability, and employers had to make reasonable adjustments. At first this applied only to employers with 20 or more staff.
- It said that shops, restaurants and other services could not refuse disabled customers, with duties phased in from 1996.
- It covered the buying and renting of property, and gave the government powers to set access rules for buses, taxis and trains.
- It set up a National Disability Council to advise ministers.
This was a turning point. For the first time, a disabled person who was unfairly treated could take the case to a tribunal or court.
How far did it help?
Campaigners welcomed the Act as a first step, but criticised its weaknesses. Small employers were left out. Many duties were limited by phrases such as "reasonable", and discrimination could sometimes be defended as "justified". The Act's rules were enforced only if an individual brought a case, which was slow and costly. The National Disability Council could only advise. So the BCODP and others kept campaigning, and in 2000 the Disability Rights Commission was set up to enforce disabled people's rights. The Act was later replaced by the Equality Act (2010), covered in the lesson Continuing Barriers and the Equality Act 2010.
Change and continuity: in 1944 the government set up a register and a quota to help disabled people find work, and in 1970 the law told councils what to provide. By 1995 the law, for the first time, gave disabled people the right to challenge unfair treatment. But in practice many barriers stayed.
Common mistakes
- Saying the 1995 Act ended all discrimination. It was a first step with real gaps.
- Saying the BCODP was a charity run for disabled people. It was run by disabled people.
- Mixing up the 1944 Act (a quota) with the 1995 Act (a ban on discrimination).
- In a comparison question, writing about only one law. Each point must cover both.
Exam-style question
Explain TWO ways in which the Disabled Persons (Employment) Act (1944) was different from the Disability Discrimination Act (1995). [6 marks]
Model answer
One difference is the method used. The 1944 Act set a quota: employers with 20 or more workers had to employ registered disabled people to make up 3 per cent of their workforce. In contrast, the 1995 Act did not use a quota. It made it illegal to treat a disabled person less favourably because of disability, and it made employers carry out reasonable adjustments, such as changing a workplace so a person could do the job.
A second difference is how much each law covered. The 1944 Act dealt only with employment, and mostly helped disabled people, including many injured in the war, to find work. However, the 1995 Act went much further, since it also covered shops and other services, the renting and buying of property, and gave powers to set access rules for transport.
What lifts this to the top level: each point states a precise fact about both laws and links them with a direct comparison.
Exam tip
For a "two ways" comparison, write two short paragraphs. Use a linking word such as "whereas" or "in contrast" and put a fact about the 1944 Act and about the 1995 Act in each one. A paragraph about only one law cannot gain full marks.