According to the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), disability discrimination occurs when a person with disability is treated unequally, less favourably, or not given the same opportunities as other people because of their disability. The treatment may be direct or indirect.
Direct discrimination involves overt acts, often intentional, such as explicitly denying rights under the law or deliberately excluding people with disability from community life. For example, refusing a person entry to a café because they have a guide dog.
Sources of discrimination
People with disability may experience discrimination from various sources. In Australia, this discrimination most often occurs in relation to the provision of goods and services and employment. Experiencing discrimination in one area of life can result in people avoiding that particular situation as well as avoiding other situations.
Of the estimated 314,000 people aged 15 and over with disability, living in households, who experienced disability discrimination in the last year:
Source: People with disability in Australia 2020 (AHRC).
https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/disability-discrimination
The benefits to employers offering an inclusive workplace to staff with varying abilities are numerous.
Generally, staff with a disability are known to take fewer days off, less sick leave and stay in jobs for longer than other workers. These employee attributes create real business cost savings, through reduced staff turnover and lower recruitment and retraining costs.