These pages do not apply outside the United Kingdom.

Northern Ireland

The sources I use for this website relate principally to England. Accordingly the website focuses on the position there. This page deals with the position in Northern Ireland as I understand it.

Summary
Most of the DDA applies in Northern Ireland
Meaning of 'disability'
Employment
Goods and services
Education
Equality Commission for Northern Ireland
Special obligations on public authorities
The European Convention on Human Rights
Other areas of law
Further information

Summary

The DDA as originally enacted extended to Northern Ireland, with some adaptations. However, amendments to the DDA made for the rest of the UK do not apply to Northern Ireland (and vice versa). To an extent the version of the DDA that applies in Northern Ireland is therefore diverging from the version that applies in the rest of the UK, though in practice changes in Northern Ireland often parallel - but lag behind - changes made for the rest of the UK.
Though 'disabilty' is defined in Northern Ireland in substantially the same way as for the rest of the UK, different Guidance applies in each.
Northern Ireland regulations which changed the DDA employment rules from 1st October 2004 closely parallel separate regulations which made amendments for the rest of the UK from the same date. Therefore all or most of my employment page should still apply to Northern Ireland.
Also the UK DDA rules on access to goods and services should apply to Northern Ireland, with certain adaptations.
The education rules for the rest of the UK do not apply in Northern Ireland. However, Northern Ireland now has its own education rules which came into force on 1st September 2005.
The Equality Commission for Northern Ireland (ECNI) - www.equalityni.org - covers disability discrimination. The remit of the Disability Rights Commission is for the rest of the UK. ECNI's website includes some Codes of Practice for Northern Ireland.
Public authorities in Northern Ireland have special obligations to promote equality. This includes an obligation to devise 'equality schemes'. The Equality Commission for Northern Ireland has a role here too.

Most of the DDA applies in Northern Ireland

The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) as originally passed in 1995 applied in Northern Ireland subject to certain adaptations.

However changes to the DDA in Northern Ireland are now a matter for the Northern Ireland Assembly. This means that the DDA as it applies in Northern Ireland is currently diverging from the DDA as it applies in the rest of the UK - except so far as Northern Ireland makes parallel changes which in practice it often does (www.youarenowcovered.org). Changes now made to the DDA by the Westminter Parliament do not as such apply in Northern Ireland and vice versa. This is because under the Northern Ireland Act 1998, the Northern Ireland Assembly deals with "transferred matters", and the matters transferred to the Assembly include equal opportunity matters. Special arrangements applied while the Assembly was suspended.

Meaning of 'disability'

As to what counts as a disability, the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 generally applies in Northern Ireland. Accordingly my page on meaning of 'disability' should be useful.

However, there are some differences in the official guidance on how the law is to be applied. The official Guidance on definition of disability for Northern Ireland (external link to pdf), dated 2008, talks about stammering a bit differently from the 2006 Guidance applying to the rest of the UK. This does not mean the law in NI is different, and indeed note that the House of Lords has declined to take the guidance into account when it comes to statutory interpretation - SCA Packaging v Boyle (2009). However, NI tribunals may perhaps in practice reach different results because of the different guidance. Main differences related to stammering are discussed under the three 'Difference in Northern Ireland guidance...' sub-headings below. There may be other differences in NI law which are not covered on this website.

The 2008 NI guidance on definition of disability came into force on 21st April 2008. It does not apply where the alleged unlawful act took place before that date (SR 2008/141 - link to pdf on OSPI website); for discrimination before then, the 1996 guidance which used to apply for the whole UK is still applicable in Northern Ireland. This 1996 guidance is available on the DRC's 'Guidance' page (link to DRC archived site).

Amendments to the definition of disability made by the Disability Discrimination Act 2005 are not really important for stammering. For the record though, they do not apply in Northern Ireland, but similar amendments are contained in Northern Ireland legislation (see www.ofmdfmni.gov.uk and www.youarenowcovered.org, and detailed legal rules at www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2006/20060312.htm).

Example in NI 2008 guidance:
Para B8: "A man has had a stammer since childhood. He does not stammer all the time, but his stammer can appear, particularly in telephone calls, going beyond the occasional lapses in fluency found in the speech of people who do not have the impairment. However, this effect can often be hidden by his avoidance strategy. He may try to avoid telephone calls where he believes he will stammer, or he may not speak as much during telephone calls. He may sometimes try to avoid stammering by substituting words, or by inserting extra words or phrases.

In determining whether he meets the definition of disability, consideration should be given to the things he cannot do or only do with difficulty.

Difference in Northern Ireland guidance: paragraph B8/D25 examples

The 2008 Guidance on definition of disability for Northern Ireland (external link to pdf) unfortunately does not include the stammering example about telephone calls which is at para D25(1) of the UK's 2006 Guidance. In the UK guidance, this example is particularly helpful for people who stammer in that it expressly says it would be reasonable to regard the effects given in the example, including examples of avoidance, as 'substantial adverse effects', and thus within the DDA.

An example at paragraph B8 of the Northern Ireland guidance (see box on right) starts off with almost identical wording. However, the crucial final sentence that "it would be reasonable to regard these effects as substantial adverse effects" is missing. Intead, the Northern Ireland example ends simply saying: "In determining whether he meets the definition of disability, consideration should be given to the things he cannot do or only do with difficulty."

So the Nothern Ireland example says "consideration should be given to the things he cannot do or only do with difficulty", rather than the UK's "it would be reasonable to regard these effects as substantial adverse effects". The Northern Ireland wording is not so clearly helpful as the UK version, and this is a shame. Having said that, the Northern Ireland example does raise awareness of the kind of difficulties faced by people who stammer. I would hope that a tribunal reading it would come to the conclusion that the effects listed are 'substantial' within the legislation. For example, it can be argued that they constitute a limitation going beyond the normal differences in ability which may exist among people (see paragraph B1 of the Northern Ireland guidance - and, so far as relevant to the NI guidance, my page: Is any stammer a disability?)

There is a quite different example on stammering at paragraph B8 of the UK version, which does not make much sense.

Difference in Northern Ireland guidance: bullet point example

One difference in the Northern Ireland guidance is good: The UK wording "It would not be reasonable to regard as having a substantial adverse effect: inability to articulate fluently due to a lisp or other minor speech impediment" had been changed to "It would not be reasonable to regard as having a substantial adverse effect: inability to articulate due to a lisp."

Thus, the Northern Ireland version does not say that inability to articulate fluently due to an 'other' minor speech impediment would fall outside the DDA. The effect of the UK version saying that is unclear. However, the fact that the Northern Ireland version omits it may make it easier in some cases to argue that a stammer falls within the DDA.

Difference in Northern Ireland guidance: impairment

A small difference in the Northern Ireland version is that communication impairments including stammering are expressly mentioned as an impairment in para A6. They are not in the UK version. This makes no difference though to the fact that a stammer is an impairment in the rest of the UK as well as in Northern Ireland.

Employment

All or most of my employment page should still apply to Northern Ireland.

Major changes on employment came into effect in the rest of the UK on 1st October 2004. These are paralleled in Northern Ireland by very similar changes made from the same date under the The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2004 (Statutory Rule 2004 No. 55). This is available at www.opsi.gov.uk/sr/sr2004/20040055.htm. The changes - in Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK - include the abolition of the small employers exemption, protection for various jobs which were previously excluded from the DDA, and no justification defence for 'direct discriminaton'.

Codes of Practice on employment, reflecting the changes from 1st October 2004, came into effect in June 2005 and are available in the ECNI website publications section.

There is an organisation 'Employers for Disability NI': www.efdni.org

Goods and services

In general the rules on access to goods and services in the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 do apply to Northern Ireland, subject to certain adaptations which will not necessarily be covered on this website.

Amendments made by the Disability Discrimination Act 2005 do not apply in Northern Ireland - but The Disability Discrimination (Northern Ireland) Order 2006 (SI 2006/312) at www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2006/20060312.htm makes amendments on areas such as transport (on which more below), public authorities, and clubs. See www.youarenowcovered.org on the changes, but check for when the new rules come into force.

A 2003 Code of Practice on Rights of access: Goods, Facilities, Services and Premises in Northern Ireland, is available in the ECNI website publications section. It includes changes to the law from 1st October 2004.

New rules relating to transport are due to come into effect at the end of 2009, and there has been a consultation on a new draft Code of Practice related to transport (link to ECNI website).

In 2008, the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland launched a conciliation service covering complaints about goods, facilities, services or premises and also complaints about education. According to the Commission, experience elsewhere shows that a majority of cases result in full and final settlements of complaints. If, however, the conciliation process does not produce a satisfactory outcome for the disabled person, they will still have the right to pursue their complaint through the courts. More at www.equalityni.org/archive/pdf/DisabilityDiscrim6pages08.pdf

Education

The rules that came into effect in Great Britain in September 2002, as described on my education pages do not apply in Northern Ireland.

However separate rules against disability discrimination in education came into effect in Northern Ireland on 1st September 2005. These extend to schools, further and higher education institutions and qualifications bodies. There is more about them on the ECNI website.

The rules are contained in the Special Educational Needs and Disability (Northern Ireland) Order 2005, available at www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2005/20051117.htm. This has been amended as from 1st September 2006 with respect to post-16 education: www.opsi.gov.uk/sr/sr2006/20060332.htm.

Northern Ireland Codes of Practice on education published in 2006 are available in the ECNI website publications section.

Equality Commission for Northern Ireland

This Commission (ECNI) - www.equalityni.org - has a role on disability discrimination matters in Northern Ireland equivalent to that of the Disability Rights Commission in England, Scotland and Wales.

The ECNI is pressing for various changes to equality law in Northern Ireland: Priorities for Legislative Reform in Northern Ireland (link to ECNI website).

Special obligations on public authorities

Section 75

In addition to the DDA, Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act imposes obligations on most public authorities in Northern Ireland. They must have regard to the need to promote equality of opportunity between various groups of people, including those with a disability and those without. 'Disability' is as defined in the DDA. Under Schedule 9 public authorities must devise equality schemes addressing discrimination. The Equality Commission for Northern Ireland (www.equalityni.org) can investigate complaints that provisions of an approved equality scheme have not been complied with.

Disability equality duty

From January 2007, Northern Ireland also has its own form of disability equality duty. See Promoting positive attitudes towards disabled people and encouraging the participation of disabled people in public life - A Guide for Public Authorities (pdf file, on ECNI website), March 2007.

DDA rights extended to public functions

Furthermore there are now DDA rules on duties and functions of public authorities in The Disability Discrimination (Northern Ireland) Order 2006 (SI 2006/312) - www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2006/20060312.htm.

Human rights

There is also a Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (external link).

The European Convention on Human Rights

Broadly, the Human Rights Act 1998 also applies in Northern Ireland. However, beyond that, the legislation establishing the Northern Ireland Assembly says that it has no power to enact legislation with contravenes the European Convention on Human Rights.

For more, see The European Convention in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Other areas of law

There may be other ways in which relevant Northern Ireland law differs from English law.

Further information

External websites

Top