The latest employment equality legislation proposed by the Government, as it relates to disabled people, will have minimal impact initially because some of the provisions proposed in the past have been watered down, according to the Reid professor of criminal law at Trinity College, Ms Ivana Bacik.
Obligations on the "reasonable accommodation" of disabled people in the workplace have been removed, she told an open forum on disability at the weekend in Dublin, organised by the Forum of People with Disabilities. "However, there has clearly been a quid pro quo, or form of plea-bargaining, in operation here. The Minister [for Justice, Equality and Law Reform] has promised a more far-reaching Disability Bill with the next 12 months." Once it was in place, Prof Bacik believed the effect of the employment provisions and others would then be more apparent, particularly when long-awaited equal status legislation was also passed. "We may then see a package of equality legislation enshrining greater rights and protections for persons with disabilities and other groups which at present are disadvantaged within society."
The new Bill, however, may be subjected to many of the same criticisms which were levelled at the old Bill (found to be unconstitutional in three respects by the Supreme Court); "it is cumbersome, long-winded and unduly complex in its drafting" and retains controversial "opt-out" provisions.
The US was leading the legislative way in adequately protecting the interests of disabled people, a process which was only beginning in Europe, though Ireland was ahead of many member-States. The US was recognising disability as a social construct and moving on from the traditional biomedical definition whereby an itemised list of differences from some medical "norm" is provided.
The definition of disability in the new Bill, which the Minister of State with responsibility for equality and disability, Ms Mary Wallace, criticised in opposition, had remained almost identical, Prof Bacik said. Ms Wallace had argued for a more "socially based" definition but was now moving towards a medically based definition.