What is the History of Australia’s Disability Discrimination Act?
As the Australian Government reviews the nation’s Disability Discrimination Act (DDA), we take a deep dive into the Act’s history and why it’s important to our community.
Introduction
Disability discrimination has existed in Australia for many years and is an issue that inspires passion and push-back from members of our community. Following decades of activism and campaigning, the country’s Disability Discrimination Act came into force in 1992, solidifying a nationwide effort to protect the disability community from disability discrimination.
The DDA, as many of us know it, represents a major turning point in Australia’s history, as our politicians and lawmakers sought to end or turn around the everyday discrimination many of us experienced and still experience in our community. The DDA established consistent and standardised legal rights, promoting equity and inclusion for our community and further inspiring current reform efforts.
Historical context
Before 1992 and the establishment of the DDA, Australians with disability had no unified federal protection against discrimination arising from or relating to disability. State and territory laws often differed and were inconsistent, resulting in many individuals being excluded from employment as well as education.
In the 1960s, surges in activism focusing on equality and autonomy within Australia, as well as international influences, such as the UN’s International Year of Disabled Persons in 1981, reinforced the need for a standardised legislation to protect the rights of people with disabilities in Australia.
Legislative development
The drafting of the DDA was coordinated by the federal Attorney-General’s Department, with staffers working alongside the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (formerly HREOC, now Australian Human Rights Commission), which helped to ensure consistency with already existing human rights precedents and frameworks.
Advocacy organisations, including People with Disabilities WA (PWdWA) and Australian Council for Rehabilitation of the Disabled (ACROD), the predecessor to National Disability Services, further supported this process through consultations, which affected the structure of the bill, ensuring that it reflected people’s real lived experiences.
A discussion paper released in 1990, which invited public submissions, highlighted support for national reform and brought into question the responsibilities of employers and service providers, challenging norms at the time.
During parliamentary discussions and debates, government members emphasised the importance of the bill to achieving equality, social inclusion and attitude changes, while the opposition at the time criticised its broad scope, and so-called excessive cost implications and burdens on small businesses.
Despite calls for further reviews, the bill passed both houses in November 1992 and came into force in March 1993. The deputy prime minister at the time described the legislation as a “landmark measure” for advancing equality for Australian community members with disability.
Core provisions
The DDA has a broad definition of disability, including intellectual, physical, sensory, and psychiatric disability, psychosocial disability, to provide a wide basis of inclusion.
The Act prohibits all types of discrimination, including indirect discrimination, where neutral stances or policies unfairly or disproportionately disadvantage people with disabilities, and direct discrimination, where a clearer negative stance is taken to discriminate against people on the basis of their disability.
Complaints made under the Act are directed to the AHRC, which aims to either help resolve any issues or refer them further to the Federal Court of Australia for resolution.