disability discrimination affect access to financial resources
The way that people are treated based on their disability can have profound consequences for their life chances and quality of life. It can affect whether they are able to access financial resources, including income, loans, savings, credit cards and money from friends and family. It can also impact their ability to access housing, and even the services and facilities that they need in daily life. These barriers may be due to prejudice and discrimination, which is illegal under the Equality Act.
Discrimination against disabled people can occur in any setting where you are expected to show personal identity. This includes public and private places, such as shops, museums, hotels, restaurants and doctors’ offices. It can include rules, policies or practices that exclude people with disabilities, such as refusing to allow someone to bring a guide dog into a place of work or refusing to provide a sign language interpreter for a meeting.
It can also include direct disability discrimination, where you are treated less favourably because of a disability that you have, or are thought to have. This can include insults, humiliating jokes or a failure to make reasonable adjustments for you in a workplace or when using a service, such as failing to provide a portable induction loop for hearing aid users. It can also include victimisation, where you are treated badly because you have made a complaint about discrimination or support someone who has.
How does disability discrimination affect access to financial resources?
There is a legal obligation on employers, local authorities and public service providers to make’reasonable adjustments’ to ensure that disabled people can access their goods or services. This can include making changes to the building or service, or providing information in different formats such as audiotape and large print, or installing a lift. You can complain to the Equality and Human Rights Commission if you are not satisfied with the response you receive.
People with disability harassment at workplace are more likely to be financially insecure, particularly during the pandemic, compared with their non-disabled counterparts. This is because they are less likely to rely on regular income sources for their spending needs, and are more likely to rely on other forms of funds, such as credit cards or loans. This can lead to debt and can further exacerbate existing financial challenges.
Despite the fact that people with disabilities are more likely to experience poverty, this issue receives very little attention in national policy debates. Many of the obstacles that people with disabilities face are administrative and can be difficult to address. This is particularly true when it comes to the way that they are treated within the justice system. CAP has interviewed many people who have experienced barriers in housing, health and social care, employment and the courts. Many of these are based on the stigma, prejudice and discrimination that people have against them because of their disability. This is why it is so important to tackle these barriers.
