Stammeringlaw is 25 years old in autumn 2024
I started this website back in autumn 1999. I talked about the website’s history in 20th anniversary of stammeringlaw, 2019. Here I’ll look back at what has happened in the five years since then.
Since 2019, statutory change relating to disability discrimination under the Equality Act (EqA) has centered around consequences of Brexit. In one important area – the wider definition of “disability” due to EU law, in employment claims – regulations expressly preserving the previous position have made the Brexit transition relatively easy. Those regulations also confirmed an expansion of indirect discrimination, which (as regards disability) raises some interesting possibilities but may be used only rarely.
Where regulations do not expressly preserve the previous EU law position, uncertainties remain in some areas, such as where university students are discriminated against by their work placement provider.
As to future statutory change, at the time of writing we are waiting for more on the new Labour government’s proposals for employment law, including publication of their Employment Bill.
Cases
On case law since 2019, we had one appeal decision on stammering where the claimant was unfortunately unsuccessful. I think a message from that and other decisions is to be as clear as possible in letting an employer etc know about any particular adjustments you want, or at least what issue(s) the adjustments should address – it may well not be enough just to tell them you stammer.
Among employment tribunal decisions, N v Packaging Automation emphasised the need to present sufficient evidence of having a disability which meets the EqA definition, if disputed. That links in with getting support from the STAMMA Advocacy Service, below. Other decisions on stammering are at Cases on stammering.
As to non-stammering cases, a stand-out appeal decision for me was Abrahart v University of Bristol, where the High Court found a university liable under the EqA after it insisted on continuing with oral assessments of a physics student who had depression and social anxiety disorder. She took her own life. Hopefully this will raise the profile of how oral assessments can be discriminatory. Also Uber v Aslam has made it somewhat easier for gig economy workers to fall within the EqA.
Covid
The Covid pandemic brought new challenges of increased use of remote communication, online or by phone. These challenges continue, and have raised the importance of considering reasonable adjustments for stammering here, including in remote job interviews, work meetings, doctors appointments, and court hearings.
Guidance for courts on stammering
Also I’m pleased to have played a part in stammering now appearing in the Equal Treatment Bench Book. This is the key guidance for courts in England and Wales on disabled defendants, litigants and witnesses. From February 2021 it has four pages specifically on stammering.
STAMMA Advocacy Service
Last but not least, over the last few years, is the very welcome development of STAMMA’s Advocacy Service (stamma.org), to help people who stammer make effective complaints and, where appropriate, offer guidance on legal options. Do contact them if you think you’ve been discriminated against due to stammering. As well as helping get a resolution in your case, they may be able to work with the organisation to improve how it treats people who stammer generally.
- Thank you very much to STAMMA for publishing 25 years of Stammeringlaw (stamma.org).
