Equality and Human Rights Commission

Article 13 of the Convention says:

• Disabled people must have the same rights to go to court, take other people to court, act as witnesses and take part in what happens in courts as anyone else.
• Disabled people must be given support to do this which may include the provision of sign language.
• There should be appropriate training for courts, police and prison staff to support this right.

What does this mean?

Current disability discrimination law places a duty on courts to treat disabled people fairly and give them extra help to take part on an equal basis. For example, if a court user has a visual impairment then the court should send out information in an accessible format. Or if a person with autism needs to visit the court in advance, so that they don’t get worried when the actual court case takes place, then the court should organise this.

It also means that sometimes the government should give extra help to disabled people to enable them to participate in the court, as claimant, defendant, witness or appropriate adult. This support could be, for example, through ‘intermediaries’, legal aid or specialist services.

There have been cases under Article 6 of the Human Rights Act/European Convention on Human Rights (the right to a fair trial) which makes it clear that defendants who use a language which is not English have the right to an interpreter.

In 2009, the court said that if a witness with a mental health condition is not given appropriate support but instead treated as an unreliable witness because of stereotyping or false assumptions, then this may amount to breach of right to be free from degrading treatment. (The full name of this case is R (B) v Director of Public Prosecutions (Equality and Human Rights Commission intervening) [2009] EWHC 106 (Admin) [2009] WLR (D) 25 QBD.)

Anecdotal evidence shows that many disabled people continue to find the court system complicated, intimidating and expensive. That may be why few human rights cases are brought to court by disabled people. The government should think about how to better support disabled people.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission can support some disabled people with discrimination cases but cannot support everyone. There are a number of other organisations that can assist. These are listed in Part 4.