Disability Discrimination

This article discusses the issue of disability discrimination in the workplace, focusing on legislative and ethical considerations. It explores the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (DDA) and other relevant legislations. The article also highlights the principles, applicability, responsible authorities, and consequences of non-compliance of these legislations. Additionally, it addresses the ethical responsibilities in providing treatment to individuals with disabilities.

Running head: DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION
Disability Discrimination
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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PART 1:
Introduction
The term workplace equality refers to treating all people equally, regardless of the
existing differences.It is considered imperative formaintaining safety in the workplace. Reports
of discrimination in workplace are extremely prevalent in Australia.During 2014-2015, almost
3500 inquiries were received by various organizations in Australia. In Australia, only 53% of
disabled persons are employed, which clearly demonstrates the stereotypic attitudes manifested
against them. On the other hand, an estimated 83% of total population of people not suffering
from any disability are currently employed. Australian Human Rights Commission has received
37% of disability discrimination cases (Browne 2019). In the case study, it is seen that a 25 year
old girl named Naida has speech impairment due to an accident. She was a Syrian refugee and
had limited knowledge in English. She alsohad a siblingdied due to the war inIraq. In another
case study, it is seen that a 30 year old male,named Kyrahis a severely disabled patient,who has
lost his leg, and subsequent functioning of frontal lobe. He also developed angry and uninhibited
sexual behavior. The essay will elaborate on the legislative and ethical considerations, in relation
to workplace discrimination.
Name of the Legislation
Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (DDA).
Resource
https://www.humanrights.gov.au/employers/good-practice-good-business-factsheets/disability-
discrimination

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Principles of the Legislative
This act covers all people from different kinds of discrimination in their workplace. The
act primarily provides support to people with disabilities. This act covers discrimination
invarious sectors like education, employment, an individual who utilises services of an
organization, and public places. This act also provides coverage to the disabled people who
are discriminated, by providing them interpreters or assistants. The act also allows the disabled
person to be attended by an aid, and equipment such as, wheel chair for disability of their
legs(Australian Human Rights Commission 2019).
Whom does this requirement apply to?
This act pertains to people with disabilities that is both permanent and/or temporary.
These disabilities primarily encompass incapacities in sensory, physical,neurological,
intellectual, psychosocial and learning domains. In addition, various diseases, physical
disfigurement, work-related injuries are also covered(Australian Human Rights Commission
2019).
Who is responsible for implementation?
The Human Rights Commission in Australia is responsible forimplementation of this act.
Consequences of non- compliance
Demonstrating non-compliance to the act and display of discriminating behavior towards
others is considered as a deed of criminal nature that leads to subsequent penalization of the
perpetrator. The wrongdoeris typically imprisoned for six months. In some cases of disability
based discrimination, monitory fine are also imposed. One such example is the situation whenthe

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Federal Circuit Court had imposed a fine of $88,870 against Rocky Holding Pvt. Ltd,
whichprovided service in Liverpool (Fair Work Ombudsman 2019).
Name of the Legislation
Disability Services Act 1986
Resources
https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2018C00146
Principles of the Legislative
The main principles of this act is to support persons with incapacities to receive facilities
essential to permit them to work in the direction of complete contribution as associates of the
community. It also assists people with disabilities to assimilate in the community, and match
services accessible commonly to individuals in the community. In addition, the law also supports
people to achieve various positive results, and adequate employment opportunities. This law also
promotes the disabledperson to increase their self-esteem conduct and also encourages
innovative behavior(Legislation.gov.au 2019).
Whom does this requirement apply to?
This act is applicable to APS employees, commonwealth employee, secretary of a
department. In order to implement the act, the legislative authorities will observe the standards of
eligibility, to determine whether the person is disable or not. Whenever, the ministry determines
a person as a disabled, it will decide upon the performance indicator for preventing any
circumstance that leads to discrimination of the identified person, on grounds of poor work
performance due to disability.

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Who is responsible for implementation?
The Government of Australia is responsible for implementation of this act, and they are
work towards strictly applying it against any type of disability based discrimination in the
workplace.
Consequences of non- compliance
Breaching such an act is considered a punishable offence in Australia. Any violation of
the act is considered as a form of criminal wrongdoing as per the criminal code act under the
chapter 2 of the Australian Federal Legislation (Legislation.gov.au 2019).
Name of the Legislation
The privacy Act 1988
Resources
https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2014C00076
Principles of the Legislative
The main principles of this act are to rectify the protection of the privacy of any
individual and to encourage the protection of privacy of the individual. The confidentiality of the
person should be strictly preserved and pertinent information related to the people should be
handled in a transparent manner (Humanrights.gov.au 2019).
Whom does this requirement apply to?

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This act can be applied to the general population and as well as the disabled people,
owing to the fact that confidentiality has been recognized as a central right of all people of the
country. Hence, the act is relevant to person with incapacities as well.
Who is responsible for implementation?
This act has been implemented by the Commonwealth Federation of each state of the Australian
Capital Territory.
Consequences of non- compliance
Breaching of discretion is considered as a serious transgression in Australia and all types
of breaching are treated as criminal offence. The chapter 2 of the criminal code is applied against
any offence, committed against this act. However, the chapter part 2.5 is not appropriate for
imposing penalisations against this act (Humanrights.gov.au 2019).
Name of the Legislation
Sex Discrimination Act 1984
Resources
https://www.humanrights.gov.au/our-work/sex-discrimination/guides/sexual-harassment
Principles of the Legislative
Sexual harassment is considered a major problem in workplaces of Australia. Sexual
harassment is completelyunsolicited in the workplace. Furthermore, sexual discernment is not
counted under normal friendship, flirtation, or interaction that is a mutual or consensual in
nature. Sexual harassment is one of the types of sex discrimination in workplace. The Sex
Discrimination Act is accountablefor protecting any person from all forms of sexual harassment

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in the workplace. Therefore, sexual harassment mostly affects woman and 1 out of 5 women
experiencethe sexual harassment in their workplace. However, the males are also affected in a
lower prevalence rate. Reports estimate that 1 out of 20 people are affected by sexual harassment
in their workplace(Humanrights.gov.au 2019). This act covers direct, physical, verbal sexual
harassment against the same or opposite gender. This act protects the employees from sexual
harassment of any person in various areas such as, education, services, employment.
Whom does this requirement apply to?
This act is applicable for all employees in the work place along with the persons with
disabilities in the workplace.
Who is responsible for implementation?
The government of Australia is responsible for implementing the act in the work place.
Consequences of non- compliance
After a sexual harassment, the victim should file a complaint through the Australian
Human Rights Commission. No additional costs are incurred while filing the complaint. After
lodging the complaint the Australian Human Rights Commission might not take any action in
between six months of complaint (Humanrights.gov.au 2019).

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PART 2:
Name of the Legislation
Racial Discrimination Act 1975 ( RDA)
Resources
https://www.humanrights.gov.au/employers/good-practice-good-business-factsheets/racial-
discrimination
Principles of the Legislative
The RDA shields people from racial discernment in several areas of public life, includingservice,
schooling, getting or using facilities, renting or purchasing a house or unit, and reaching public
places.One such example is a situation where a person cannot insist another individual to speak
in a particular language such as,English (Humanrights.gov.au 2019).
Whom does this requirement apply to?
This act is applicable to individuals of various services like banking service, private
sector employee, casual employees, any kind of service consumer in any organization. This act
also covers the hiring process of any companies and employment agencies.
Who is responsible for implementation?
The Australian Human Rights Commission is responsible for implementing the Racial
Discrimination act in workplaces.
Consequences of non- compliance

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Breaching the law makes the commission take efforts to solve the problematic situation
in a formal manner at the first place. This is usually achieved by organizing a conference
between the victim and the organization. However, if the condition is not yet solved, the federal
court will take actionsaccording to the law (Humanrights.gov.au 2019).
Ethical Responsibilities
While providing treatment to patients like Naida and Kyahseveral ethical concerns are
bound to arise. This can be accredited to the fact that the patients suffer from different problems
such as, speech impairment and mental trauma, respectively. The second patient Kyahalso has
physical disabilities. A code of ethics refers to a combination of core ethical considerations that
secure the responsibilities and values related to a specific profession. In these case scenarios the
ethical considerations are as follows-
 There should be a particular authority and they will be responsible for preventing
the occurrence of any type of violence, exploration and abuse. This authority will
also be responsible for ensuring access to all kinds of facilities and services to
serve all the persons with disabilities. The Government of Australia will be
responsible for giving social, educational, administrative and legislative support to
theperson, with any kind of disability. No kinds of gender biasness and abusive
behavior will be demonstrated against the disable person (Australian Human
Rights Commission 2019).
 The organization should adopt measures for promoting the cognitive, physical and
psychological recovery of the patients. In addition, rehabilitation program, social
integration program should be introduced in order toprovide them necessary
support(Australian Human Rights Commission 2019). In the first case scenario,

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this ethical considerationis extremely important as Naida is a victim of war
violence. She should be engaged in sessions that promote her mental recovery
journey owing to the fact that she suffered from trauma and also lost her sibling in
the war.
 There should not be any kind of psychological and physical abuse to any of the
disabled persons. In this case scenario, it is seen that, the patient Naida is mentally
traumatized and she has speech impairment. Hence, all kinds of attitudes and
behavior that worsen her psychological wellbeing must be prevented. In addition,
the second patient Kyah is not mentally stable and also has an impaired leg. This
calls for the need of acknowledging the ethical considerations that pertain to
mental and physical health. Furthermore, the caregiver of the NSDS organization
should not show any kind of negligent behavior towards both the
patients.Caregivers have often been found to neglect delivery of care to a person
who is disabled or cannot take independent and complete care ofoneself. In order
to maintain proper ethical practices the caregiver provide help to the patients
forgrooming, proper clothing, personal hygiene, health services, and withholding
food, with the aim of allowing the disabled person gain access to equal facilities
like normal people(Australian Human Rights Commission 2019).
 One of the most important and crucial ethical consideration is protection of
confidentiality and privacy of the patients, and is considered an essential
component of delivering services. In order to maintain privacy and confidentiality,
there are few standard considerations. It can be stated that the needs of
confidentiality can be observed via the Privacy Act (1988), National standards for

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Disability services, and the Australian Privacy Principles. For maintainingprivacy
and confidentiality, only necessary information about the patient should be
collected. Assortment of any other information is strictly prohibited and any type
of material should not be shared with any other person. The organization should
not discuss any information in informal settings that comprises of third parties and
there should be no discussion of any individual cases in any public meeting and
conferences(Australian Human Rights Commission 2019). The file of the patients’
information should be kept in a secure place. In this case study, it is very crucial to
maintain the privacy of the patients. The patient Naida needs treatment for speech
impairment and trauma and another patient wants treatment for his hyperactive
behavior. Disclosing information related to their health will hamper their personal
life in their future.
 Another important ethical consideration is the need of taking consent from the
person who is receiving any kind of service. The act of giving permission or
agreeing to any decision for certain activity that can affect that person in any part
his/her life is referred to as consent. In this case study, before giving any service to
Naida it is important to take consent from her as she is quite capable of giving
consent. However, in case of Kyah it is difficult to take consent as he is not
completely stable mentally, rather hyperactive. In that case, consent will be taken
from any close relative or family member.

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PART 3:
Cover Page:
Name of the Organization:North Side Disability Services
Policy and Procedure title:‘Sexual Offence Act’ 2019 (Draft-A)
Date:15.01.2019
Purpose:This policy intends to reduce the occurrence rate of sexual harassment within indoor
sports and recreational activities in the organization within the territory of Australia. It further
intends to safeguard the integrity and safety of the organizational members.
Scope:The policy and procedure applies to the participants, jury members, organizing members
and concerned authorities
Effective Date:The policy would come to effect from 18.01.2019
Policy Statement:The organization commits to the prevention of the incidences of sexual
harassment among the disabled members and ensure safety and prevention of further incidence
Legislative Authority:State and Territory anti-discrimination body
Parent Policy:This policy comes under the section of Sexual Harassment (A code in Practice)
which is directly covered under the policy of Australian Human Rights Commission
Procedure:
 Responsible staff: advisory board members, sports coordinator, participant trainers and
security personnel
 Personal Protective Equipment: Pepper spray

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 Steps: Steps would include, imparting defense training to members of the organization
and training the female members to use the pepper spray at the time of a harassment
episode
Responsibilities:
 Compliance: Compliance would be taken care of by the administrative department of the
organizing committee and the territorial governing body
 Reporting:Mandatory self-reporting or reporting done by any other member irrespective
of their power, position or hierarchy to the organizing committee
 Record Management:Record management would be taken care of the by the secretary
of the organizing committee
Procedures:
 Identifies barriers: Social stigma and fear
 Planning: Maintenance of anonymity and respecting the confidentiality of the victims
personal details
 Strategic information:Promote awareness about the policy andencourageself-defence
training
Definitions:
The Sexual Offence Act 2019 (Draft-A) intends to punish the offenders who engage in any
source of sexual harassment and cause inconvenience to other members. The following incidents
would be identified as cases of sexual harassment:
 Sexual Assault

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 Molestation
 Inappropriate touch and sharing of inappropriate content within the organization
 Verbal sexual-abuse
 Exhibition of Private Parts
Related policies and procedures:
 Related policy and document site:Sexual Harassment (www.humanrights.gov.au)
 Related legislation and supporting documents:Sexual harassment in workplace
(www.lawcouncil.asn.au)
Review Processes:The organizing committee would be responsible for reviewing the policy on
an annual basis and take preventive action and correction if necessary
Approval and amendment history:Approved by the Australian State and territory governing
body. Amendment will be done after the first review process
Emergency contact numbers:09 9226 8787 and 000

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References:
Australian Human Rights Commission., 2019. Disability discrimination | Australian Human
Rights Commission. [online] Humanrights.gov.au. Available at:
https://www.humanrights.gov.au/employers/good-practice-good-business-factsheets/disability-
discrimination [Accessed 9 Jan. 2019].
Australian Human Rights Commission., 2019. Legal and Ethical Considerations of Service
delivery. [online] Humanrights.gov.au. Available at:
https://www.humanrights.gov.au/sites/default/files/VET%20Disability%20Unit%20Trainers
%20Manual%20-%20Topic%208.pdf [Accessed 9 Jan. 2019].
Browne, R., 2019. Disability discrimination still rife in Australian workplaces: Australian
Network on Disability conference. [online] The Sydney Morning Herald. Available at:
https://www.smh.com.au/business/workplace/disability-discrimination-still-rife-in-australian-
workplaces-australian-network-on-disability-conference-20160516-gowaim.html [Accessed 9
Jan. 2019].
Fair Work Ombudsman., 2019. Welcome to the Fair Work Ombudsman website. [online]
Available at: https://www.fairwork.gov.au/about-us/news-and-media-releases/2013-media-
releases/october-2013/20131007-rocky-holdings-judgement [Accessed 9 Jan. 2019].
Humanrights.gov.au., 2019. Racial discrimination | Australian Human Rights Commission.
[online] Available at: https://www.humanrights.gov.au/employers/good-practice-good-business-
factsheets/racial-discrimination [Accessed 10 Jan. 2019].

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Humanrights.gov.au., 2019. Sexual harassment | Australian Human Rights Commission.
Available at: https://www.humanrights.gov.au/our-work/sex-discrimination/guides/sexual-
harassment [Accessed 10 Jan. 2019].
Lawcouncil.asn.au 2019. Sexual harassment in the workplace. [online] Lawcouncil.asn.au.
Available at: https://www.lawcouncil.asn.au/policy-agenda/advancing-the-profession/equal-
opportunities-in-the-law/sexual-harassment-in-the-workplace [Accessed 18 Jan. 2019].
Legislation.gov.au., 2019. Disability Services Act 1986. Available at:
https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2018C00146 [Accessed 10 Jan. 2019].
Legislation.gov.au., 2019. Privacy Act 1988. Available at:
https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2014C00076 [Accessed 10 Jan. 2019].