RNID: For deaf and hard of hearing people.

How we can help you

Benefits
Services and the DDA

The DDA aims to stop discrimination against disabled people who buy goods, or use facilities or services. 

Employment and the DDA

The DDA covers people in full-time, part-time and temporary work. It also covers self-employed people, contract workers and people looking for work. Employers have a responsibility to make sure their practices comply with the DDA.

What we don't do

We provide a specialised service and do not have the expertise to deal with all areas. The main aim of our Legal Casework Service is to provide legal advice in relation to specific queries, rather than general deaf or disability information or general information on the DDA and welfare rights.

  • The Legal Casework Service doesn't give advice or representation on Disability Discrimination Act cases, but we are looking at changes to our service.
  • The Legal Casework Service only provide advice and representation for welfare rights.  This means we do not provide advice or representation in other  areas such as general employment issues, general housing or consumer complaints, personal injury and family cases or criminal law.
  • We do not offer a drop-in or appointment service. We will have face to face interviews with clients, but only if we think that it is necessary and only after we have already assessed their enquiry.
  • We are not able to help with general correspondence or information on general deaf issues or specialist equipment. You can find information on equipment in our factsheets, in our shop and in our information and resources.
  • If you already have a third party adviser, such as Citizens Advice Bureau or a welfare rights adviser, we will not be able to advise you directly for professional reasons. However, we may be able to work with your adviser and provide deaf and disability related information.
  • We do not provide legal advice to service providers, education providers or employers.
  • We do not represent people who are not deaf or hard of hearing.
Other things you should know

We focus on situations that have the biggest effect on deaf people. This means that we mainly look at legal cases and give specific legal advice. Legal cases can take up a lot of time and resources, so we give these priority.

As we focus on legal cases, there may be situations where we can’t give you detailed legal advice or there is no obvious legal solution. In this situation we can’t always give you detailed help but we will try.  We will give you information and tell you where to go for more help.

How we provide our service

Information and general advice

A range of factsheets and our know your rights pack are available on this website and from our information line.

Supported casework

Our Legal Casework Service provides ongoing specific advice, support and empowerment involving welfare rights and social security legislation.

Direct casework

Sometimes we take on complex cases that require specialist knowledge and advocacy. This service is only available in certain circumstances.

How to contact the Legal Casework Service

To find out how to access the Legal Casework Service, please look at the contact us page.