Disability Discrimination Act

People living with HIV have some protection from discrimination through the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA 1995).

This law protects disabled people from discrimination in the workplace, education, housing and in accessing goods and services. It also enables disabled people to ask for 'reasonable adjustments', such as changes at work to ensure that they are not put at a significant disadvantage.

Until December 2005, people living with HIV were only defined as disabled if they showed symptoms of AIDS. This meant that people living with HIV who experienced discrimination, but did not have symptoms which affected their ability to carry out normal daily activities, had no protection under the law.

NAT campaigned for the legislation to be changed and in December 2005, an important legal extension came into effect, which meant that people living with HIV were automatically protected by the Act from the point of diagnosis.

More information about current protection under disability discrimination law can be found in NAT's leaflet Positively Employed and on the website www.pointofdiagnosis.org, which was set up by a group of charities including NAT and the Disability Rights Commission (DRC).

The definition of disability remains under review and NAT has contributed to the debate by responding to the consultation carried out by the DRC.

NAT will continue to campaign for the rights and interests of people living with HIV to be at the heart of the discussion.