Licenciado

In 1992 the Commonwealth Government passed the Disability Discrimination Act 1992. The objects of the Act are set out in s 3. They are to eliminate, as far as possible, discrimination against people with disabilities in critical areas such as work, accommodation, education, access to premises, clubs, sport, the provision of goods, services and facilities, and land. Existing laws and theadministration of Commonwealth laws and programs are also targeted. In addition, the Act is expressed as an attempt to ensure, as far as practicable, that people with disabilities have the same rights to equality before the law as the rest of the community and to promote recognition and acceptance within the community of the principle that people with disabilities have the same fundamental rights as in therest of the community. This is therefore an attempt to provide a clear and comprehensive national mandate for the elimination of discrimination in order to afford people with disabilities equality of opportunity in public life.
The substantive complaint and procedure provisions of the Act came into force on 1 March 1993.
.01 Law: Cth Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (¶97-300), s 3.
[¶5-850]What is a disability?
Last reviewed: 15 October 2009
The Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth) provides a comprehensive definition of the term “disability”. The term “disability” is defined in the Act in the following terms:
* • a total or partial loss of the person’s bodily or mental functions (eg being paraplegic, having epilepsy)
* • total or partial loss of a part of the body(eg amputations)
* • the presence in the body of organisms causing disease or illness (eg having AIDS or hepatitis)
* • the presence in the body of organisms capable of causing disease (eg being HIV positive but not having full-blown AIDS)
* • the malfunction, malformation or disfigurement of a part of the person’s body (eg having a sight impairment, having a club foot, having a harelip)* • a disorder or malfunction that results in the person learning differently from a person without the disorder or malfunction (eg being dyslexic)
* • a disorder, illness or disease that affects a person’s thought processes, perception of reality, emotions or judgment, or that results in disturbed behaviour (eg having schizophrenia, having Alzheimer’s disease, having a psychiatriccondition).
All of the above include people who currently have a disability, people who previously had, but no longer have, a disability (eg having a medical history of severe asthma which is now under control), people for whom a disability may exist in the future (eg being a member of a family which has a history of heart disease) and people to whom a disability is imputed (eg assuming that a gay manhas AIDS when he does not). A future disability includes one that might exist because of a genetic predisposition to that disability. This clarification was added by the Disability Discrimination and Other Human Rights Legislation Amendment Act 2009.
In addition, unlawful discrimination occurs under the Act when a person is treated less favourably than others because he or she uses a palliativeor therapeutic device or auxiliary aids, such as wearing leg or neck braces, using a wheelchair or needing a loud-speaking telephone, or relies upon a reader, interpreter, assistant or carer, such as readers for the blind, assistants for people with quadriplegia, or uses a guide dog, hearing dog or other trained animal.
The aim of these provisions is the maximum possible breadth of coverage ofphysical and mental disabilities, past and present, together with any auxiliary aids that may be used.
Disability and symptoms distinguished
Disability includes behaviour that is a symptom or manifestation of the disability. This was clarified under the Disability Discrimination and Other Human Rights Legislation Amendment Act 2009. The amendment implemented the Productivity Commission’s...