The Equality Act 2010 sets out the rights and responsibilities of disabled workers, who are either mentally or physically disabled, protecting them against discrimination in the workplace.

To clarify, an employee can be categorised as disabled if they have a long-term physical or mental impairment, which hinders them from carrying out everyday tasks in the workplace, which could include: manual handling, Navigating a computer, colleague interaction, etc.

There are various types of disability discrimination, including:

Under the Equality Act 2010, organisations must provide reasonable adjustments in the workplace in order to accommodate anyone who has a long-term illness, impairment or disability.

A reasonable adjustment is where an employer removes or minimises anything, within reason, that disadvantages their employee.

‘Within reason’ is clearly important, as a small business would not likely have the resources to accommodate all employees who may be at a disadvantage, whereas larger organisations are more likely able to adjust.