Disability equality
The Disability
Discrimination Act 2005 amended the Disability Discrimination
Act 1995 and introduced a duty on public authorities to promote
equality for disabled people. Under the Act the council is
required, when carrying out its functions, to pay due regard to the
need to:
- Eliminate discrimination that is unlawful under this Act
- Eliminate harassment of disabled persons that is related to
their disabilities
- Promote equality of opportunity between disabled persons and
other persons
- Take steps to take account of disabled persons' disabilities,
even where that involves treating disabled persons more favourably
than other persons
- Promote positive attitudes towards disabled persons
- Encourage participation by disabled persons in public
life.
Disability Equality Scheme 20010/13
Tower Hamlets Council would like to
say thank you to everyone involved in producing this
Disability Equality Scheme, from the disabled people who took part
in focus groups and gave their views on how we can improve the
services we provide, to all the staff who helped gather the
evidence and gave their time and support in organising
the final editing of the document, your input has been
invaluable. We believe that this Scheme will help us
ensure that whenever and wherever we deliver services we are always
thinking about the needs of disabled people and have produced an
action plan that will enable us to strengthen and improve
on providing equality for disabled people.
To see the draft Scheme see attachments below:
Disability Equality Scheme (DES) - Year 3
Welcome to Tower Hamlets Council’s progress report on the third
year of the Disability Equality Scheme. The Council’s first
Disability Equality Scheme (DES) was published on 4 December 2006.
The Scheme set out the objectives and key actions for the Council
and has been fundamental in helping us to improve services to local
disabled residents and disabled staff.
For further information see the attachments below:
Disability Equality Scheme - 2007/10 - Year 2
Our Disability Equality Scheme sets out the
actions we will take to address key priorities of local disabled
people and staff over the next three years. The priorities were
informed by a series of workshops held during autumn 2006. The
involvement of disabled people in the process is critical to the
success of the scheme.
Disability Equality Scheme documents
If you require Bengali, Vietnamese or Somali
translations of this report, please contact the Diversity &
Equalities Team on 020 7364 1963 or 020 7364 5347.
Organisations
Locally we have a wide range of organisations providing services
to disabled people. these cover all natures of disability, such
as:
- Sensory
- Physical and Mental
- Learning
See link below for details of organisations in Tower
Hamlets:
Disabled
Organisations in Tower Hamlets (pdf, 126 kb) (last updated
July 2009)
To update the database please contact Barry Clark on
0207 364 5347 or barry.clark@towerhamlets.gov.uk
Definitions of the different kinds of disabilities are
listed below. The definitions are taken from Directgov.
Sensory
Sensory impairment refers to a defect in
sensing and passing on the impulse. This leads to absence of
sensation and neuronal coordination. People with sensory impairment
may not be able to hear or speak or view or smell or feel or react
to the stimuli given to the respective sensory systems. The
impairment may be caused by aging and other physiological changes,
accident or injuries etc.
Physical and Mental
The term ‘disability' covers both physical and
mental impairments that have a substantial and long-term (i.e. has
lasted or is expected to last for at least 12 months) effect on the
person's ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.
Normal day-to-day activities are ones that involve:
- Mobility
- Manual dexterity
- Physical co-ordination
- Continence
- Ability to lift, carry, or otherwise move everyday objects
- Perception of the risk of physical danger
Learning
‘Learning disability’ is an umbrella term
covering many different intellectual disabilities. It means that a
person’s capacity to learn is affected and that they may not learn
things as quickly as other people. Sometimes a learning disability
is called a learning difficulty, intellectual impairment or
intellectual disability.
Contact us:
Scrutiny and Equality Team
Chief Executive’s Directorate
Mulberry Place
5 Clove Crescent
London E14 2BG
Tel: 020 7364 5347