These are links on disability discrimination law in the UK and internationally, with particular reference to stammering.
Further links are on the relevant pages on this site, for example Employment links, Guidance and Codes of Practice, and Sources of Help and Advice. I am not responsible for the content of external internet sites – and see generally disclaimer.
UK official bodies
- Equality and Human Rights Commission – took over from the Disability Rights Commission in 2007. The EHRC is also on YouTube and Facebook.
- www.gov.uk/browse/disabilities – Government disability website
- Office for Disability Issues
- Equality Commission for Northern Ireland – dealing with discrimination in Northern Ireland.
Other UK
- stamma.org – the new website of the British Stammering Association, launched 2019. Includes
- Equal Opportunities – Visit to Scottish Parliament (archive of stammering.org) – to give evidence to Equal Opportunities Inquiry (2005).
- www.equalitytalk.org.uk – website published April 2012, on how Equality Act 2010 applies to adults with speech, language and communication needs, including stammering, aphasia etc.
- Business Disability Forum – previously called the Employers Forum on Disability (and Northern Ireland has Employers for Disability NI)
- Reasonable Access – a small organisation led by disabled people. It wants to empower other disabled people in the UK to assert and enforce rights to access. I particularly like the page of County Court decisions on provisions of services, which normally get little publicity.
- On the issue of stammering being seen as a disability, and the social model:
- Stuttering as a disability – the controversy (Word doc), by Mark Irwin – the International Stuttering Association debated the issue and confirmed that it recognises stuttering as a disability
- The
D word : What people who stutter can learn from the disability community – 2012, on the Stuttering Homepage. Includes threaded discussion. - A social model of stammering – from
archive of the website of the Special Interest Group (SIG) on Disorders of Fluency Self advocacy for people who stammer (stamma.org) and On being your own person (archive of stammering.org), both 2002 about a course at the City Lit in London.- Public authorities to have greater duties in future (archive of stammering.org), 2004 – includes a review of
advantages and disadvantages of stammering being seen as a disability.
- Discrimination Law Association – for practitioners and others
- Institute of Equality and Diversity Practitioners –
professional body of equality, diversity and human rights practitioners. - The Disability Archive UK (disability-studies.leeds.ac.uk – valuable archive of articles hosted by the Centre for Disability Studies, University of Leeds.
Europe
- European Disability Forum – exists to represent disabled people in dialogue with the European Union and other European authorities. (3rd December each year is the European Day of Disabled People.)
- European League of Stuttering Associations (ELSA) – Discrimination links.
- European Equality Law Network – European network of legal experts in gender equality and non-discrimination, including A comparative analysis of non-discrimination law in Europe 2018 (pdf).
- Combatting disability discrimination and realising equality: A comparison of the UN CRPD and EU equality and non-discrimination law (pdf), by Lisa Waddington and Andrea Broderick. October 2018. European Commission.
- Disability Intergroup (edf-feph.org) of the European Parliament.
Austria
Belgium
- Discrimination des personnes avec un handicap – information booklet on the UNIA websirte.
Denmark
- Det Centrale Handicapråd – Danish Disability Council.
France
- Le Défenseur des droits: Lutte contre les discriminations
- Discrimination: En France and Loi handicap – Wikipedia
- Secrétaire d’Etat auprès du Premier ministre, chargée des Personnes handicapées (handicap.gouv.fr) – Government Ministry website
Germany:
- Allgemeines Gleichbehandlungsgesetz (de.wikipedia.org) – equality law, including disability, which came into effect in August 2006. Known as the AGG.
- Antidiskriminierungsstelle des Bundes – Federal Anti-Discrimination Centre. Their website includes information on the AGG and on services offered by the Centre. (In English, it includes Guide to the General Equal Treatment Act (pdf), including English translation of the AGG.
- Schwerbehindertenrecht (de.wikipedia.org) – severely disabled.
- On employment, Bundesvereinigung Stotterer-Selbsthilfe: ‘Arbeit & Beruf’ from the German stuttering association. Also their ‘Rechte’ page, ‘Rights’, including link to book on discrimination law relating to education.
Ireland, Republic of
- Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission – dealing with disability (and other) discrimination in the Irish Republic
- Industrial tribunal – including decisions.
Malta
- Kummissjoni Nazzjonali Persuni b’Dizabilita (National Commission Persons with Disability, KNPD) – includes the text of the Equal Opportunities (Persons with disability) Act 2000, and information on it.
Netherlands
- College voor de Rechten van de Mens – Dutch Human Rights Council. Includes, in English ‘Questions and answers’.
- www.discriminatie.nl – report discrimination to one of the Netherlands’ anti-discrimination agencies.
Spain
- Spain scraps ‘stutter laws’ – ‘Breaking News’ article from October 2005 on abolition of laws that denied people who stutter the right to work as police officers, firefighters and civil servants
Sweden
- Handikappombudsmannen – Disability Ombudsman.
- The Scope of Reasonable Adjustment as a Discriminatory Dilemma: A Survey of British and Swedish Disability Discrimination Legislation in Comparative Perspective – research project.
Switzerland
- Eidg. Büro für die Gleichstellung von Menschen mit Behinderungen (EBGB) – Federal Agency for the Equality of People with Disabilities, in German, French and Italian
General international
- Bill of Rights and Responsibilities for People who Stutter – sponsored by the International Stuttering Association (ISA) and the International Fluency Association (IFA). IFA is the association for professionals.
- The Real World of Jobs, part of the International Stuttering Awareness Day Online Conference 2000. There are papers by several people who stutter telling of the path they took in attaining their career goals. There is also a discussion board which is no longer live but can still be viewed.
- Equal Rights Trust – international charity.
- On the DREDF website: International laws (dredf.org) – list of laws of numerous different countries, with some links. Not necessarily up to date or complete of course.
- See also the page on this website on International instuments, such as treaties.
North America
United States
- Stuttering discrimination and the law on the ASHA website, July 2016. Describes how there have been more cases finding in favour of people who stutter since the 2008 amendments to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
- Stuttering identification card which can be carried by people who stutter. (In the UK, Stamma now also has similar cards at stamma.org/shop). The US card was launched in 2016 by the Stuttering Foundation in
response to an incident at Atlanta airport – - I Was Detained at an Airport Because of My Stutter (huffpost.com), January 2016, Woman Detained at Atlanta Airport Because of Stuttering (Ep. 566) January 2016.
- Disability or Identity?: Stuttering, Employment Discrimination, and the Right to Speak Differently at Work, Jared Gilman, Brooklyn Law Review Volume 77, Issue 3. Spring 2012.
- www.stutterlaw.com – William Parry’s website on stuttering and the law, but last I heard this is no longer being updated.
- We’re from the government and we’re here to help! Stuttering and working in the US federal government (link to Stuttering Homepage) – on the Schedule A Hiring authority, including threaded discussion. 2012.
- Accommodation compliance: Stuttering – from ‘JAN’, the Job Accommodation Network
- US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Their website includes the Digest Of Equal Employment Opportunity Law, Volume XIII, No. 2 which includes a case on stuttering – scroll down to the heading ‘Pattern of Discrimination found in Agency’s Personnel Practices’
- Stuttering: Answers for Employers, from the Stuttering Foundation of America but with much that is useful in the UK and elsewhere. They also have a list of contacts and websites: ADA and stuttering.
- ADA Library (askjan.org) – “Various links describing the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 2008”
- Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF) – a US law and policy
center dedicated to protecting and advancing the civil rights of people with disabilities. - Stutterer Speaks Up in Class; His Professor Says Keep Quiet – New York Times, 10/10/2011.
- United States: California Adopts New Disability Discrimination Regulations (littler.com) – an example of State discrimination legislation. February 2013. Another example is the New York law in Columbus v Liebhart.
- (US cases on my website: Columbus v Liebhart and Hartman v National Board of Medical Examiners).
Canada
South America
Brazil
- Orientações Jurídicas sobre Gagueira – some legal guidance from the Brazilian Fluency Institute.
Australasia
Australia
- Australian Human Rights Commission – Disability Rights Home Page.
- Western Australia Equal Opportunity Commission – handles complaints under the State’s Equal Opportunity Act. They gave a presentation at the 2004 World Congress for People who Stutter in Perth.
- New South Wales Anti-Discrimination Board – similar for NSW. On a previous version of the website there was an account of a NSW tribunal decision
on stuttering: Rinne v Dept of Education & Training [2003], NSWADT 98, 13/5/03. - Links to other Australian territorial bodies on Human Rights Commission links page.
- Article in Sydney Morning Herald (3/8/06)
about 1994 court case where a speech impediment was taken for dishonesty. Also Coombe v Bessell on my website linking to the full Tasmanian Supreme Court judgment, and speech ‘Who is telling the truth? Psychology, common sense and the law’ (pdf) discussing it. - Army officer claims stutter discrimination, 29/7/2011.
- Stutterer fights bar on ‘drunk row’, 6/12/2010.
New Zealand
- Disability rights (hrc.co.nz) – New Zealand Human Rights Commission.
- Office for Disability issues
Asia
India
- Indian Stammering Association: ‘Advocacy’ – blog posts with ‘Advocacy’ label.
Turkey
- “Disabled Law” Itself a Handicap for Disabled – May 2006 news article
- Stuttering Person Filed A Lawsuit Against Turkish Telekom To Get A Discount On His Telephone Bills (archive of turkishpress.com) – July 2006
- Now it pays to stutter on the phone in Turkey – 1999 report of a Turkish phone company offering a discount for people who stutter
