While Deaf Americans are covered by a variety of protections through the Americans with Disabilities Act, Deaf individuals in the United Kingdom, which makes up England, Wales, and Scotland, have similar but slightly different rights. Until 2010, Deaf individuals were covered under the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA).  The DDA was passed in 1995 and provided individuals with Disabilities, including Deafness or Hard of Hearing, protection against discrimination in employment.  With the implementation of the Equality Act in 2010, the scope of protection for individuals with disabilities, among other social groups, was expanded so that all individuals are provided protections from discrimination and equal access to areas of public accommodation.

 The Equality Act Overview

The Equality Act is very similar to the ADA in the protections that it provides for Deaf or hard of hearing individuals in places of public accommodation.  The Equality Act mirrors the ADA in the areas of employment, education, telecommunication, health care, and public and private businesses.  The Equality Act protects Deaf individuals from direct discrimination, discrimination arising from a disability, indirect discrimination, harassment, and retaliation if a complaint is filed, and failure to make reasonable adjustments in order for Deaf individuals to have equal access to public accommodations. 

 Employment protections under the Equality Act

Under the Equality Act of 2010, Deaf individuals have the right to ‘access to work’.  ‘Access to work’, is a government funded grant that can assist employers with the cost of providing deaf workers with equal access and implementing reasonable accommodations.  The ‘Access to work’ grant can help pay for assistive hearing devices, deaf awareness training, note takers, lip readers, or even computer automated real time transcriptions.  This grant is an amazing step towards promoting true inclusion in the employment sectors, as often hiring supervisors are reluctant to hire Deaf employees due to a fear of additional costs that accompany making the business accessible to those with a different method of communication. 

 Educational protections under the Equality Act

The Equality Act aims to provide protections for school aged children, making sure that Deaf children are not discriminated against due to their Deafness.  The Equality Act expects schools to make reasonable accommodations to provide an inclusive learning environment so that Deaf children are active participants in daily learning, and provides expectations for the educational institution to actively promote equality of opportunities for deaf children.  The Equality Act also requires schools to think about the impact educational decisions regarding school policies and procedures have on Deaf students and their families. 

One major difference between the Equality act in the UK and the ADA is that the Equality act states that sign language interpreters are not mandatory when communicating with Deaf students or their families.  This has caused quite a bit of confusion and frustration amongst Deaf culture, as many Deaf individuals in the UK communicate through British Sign Language (BSL).  Only recently has legislation been drafted to include BSL interpreters as not only a reasonable accommodation, but a mandatory one for the sake of effective communication. 

 Telecommunication protections under the Equality Act

Telecommunications are very similar to those in the United States, with the UK utilizing a similar teletypewriter (TTY) system to provide equal access to daily communication for Deaf and hard of hearing individuals to their hearing family, friends, or others.  The program that is utilized for UK Deaf individuals is called Relay UK, and instead of a specialized phone that the Deaf individual would use, it is an app or computer based program that allows only text to speech through a relay operator.  Deaf individuals download the app, type the message that they wish to communicate, and a relay operator delivers that message to the hearing person. 

 Healthcare protections under the Equality Act

The Equality Act guarantees that health and social care services are available to all people with Deafness or hard of hearing.  While there are separate guiding documents and quality standards to ensure equal access, the Equality Act specifically states that your healthcare experience can be adjusted to include accommodations including alternative communication methods like using email versus phone to make and confirm health visits and providing communication support for appointments like sign language interpreters or speech to text options.  Another accommodation that should be readily available is to provide resources in alternative formats. 

 Because the UK makes up three separate countries: Britain, Wales, and Scotland, accessibility options greatly vary based on the country.  For example, Welsh standards are more extensive, including that Deaf individuals’ files be flagged so that health professionals working with them will be ready to provide alternative communication methods and the individual needs of the patient and that all staff should be trained in how to communicate with an individual with Deafness or hearing loss.  While these are the standards in Wales, they may not be the standard in Britain or Scotland.

 Equality Act protections for Deaf individuals in the public and private sector

The public and private services that are included under the Equality Act include movie theaters, restaurants, museums and galleries, transportation, and housing. If a Deaf or hard of hearing individual requests a reasonable adjustment so that they can access services and are denied, the Equality Act states that denial could be grounds for unlawful discrimination.   The Equality Act actually goes beyond ADA ability because in the US, movie theaters are not required to provide closed captioning for theatrical releases, despite it being a place of public accommodation.

Conclusion

While different countries are currently navigating the ways they can bring an inclusive society to all of their citizens, there will always be room for improvement until universal communication methods, like sign language interpreters, are commonplace. If you are ever in need of bridging the communication gap and creating an inclusive and accessible environment for all, reach out to Unspoken Language Services, a professional sign language interpreter service.