Creating a fairer Britain
Our existing disability discrimination law gives disabled people protection against most forms of discrimination. It also gives disabled people rights to reasonable adjustments, and it allows employers and service providers to treat disabled people more favourably than non-disabled people (for example reserving parking bays outside an office for disabled employees) since this is often necessary to deliver equality in practice. The Human Rights Act also provides important protection against discrimination in the enjoyment of the rights it sets out, such as not to be discriminated in the way the right to respect for family life is protected.
However the Convention is broader than current British discrimination law. For example, in British law, volunteers have little protection. Travel by air and across water is also not fully covered nor do manufacturers have enforceable duties to make their products accessible. Also, disability discrimination law has a stricter definition of who is a disabled person, whilst the Convention might also protect people, for example, with a one-off but severe mental health condition lasting less than 12 months.
Often you can use this right together with other rights in the Convention as in the example below concerning Article 30 which sets out the right to take part in leisure.
A local authority decides to close a car park which gives easy access to a beach, resulting in visitors having to park further away, and to use an alternative route which is steep. This means that people with mobility impairments and their family / friends cannot go to that beach anymore. This is a regressive step and also it puts disabled people at a disadvantage in comparison with other people. Disabled people could highlight Articles 5 and 30 in their discussions with, or a case against, the local authority in such a situation.
Other human rights publications from the Commission: