About this factsheet

This factsheet is part of RNID's your rights range. You should read it if you work for a public authority. It will help you ensure that you include equality for deaf and hard of hearing people in your work.

We use the term 'deaf people' to refer to deaf, deafened and hard of hearing people throughout this factsheet.

Disclaimer

This information is not legal advice and you should not rely on it as such. You should consider taking independent legal advice from a solicitor or other qualified legal adviser. RNID does not accept any liability for any actions or failures to act, which you or anyone else may or may not take on the basis of the information contained in this factsheet.

What is the Disability Equality Duty (DED)?

The Disability Equality Duty (DED or 'the Duty') aims to promote equality for, and to end institutional discrimination against, disabled people. It was created by the Disability Discrimination Act 2005 (DDA) and came into force on 4 December 2006.

The Duty does not create new rights for individuals but helps public authorities to offer a better standard of service to disabled people in society. It will also place public authorities at less risk of challenges under the DDA.

The Duty will help you to:

It places a general duty on public authorities to:

Many public authorities also have specific duties to:

Some public authorities do not have specific duties, but this factsheet will still help you implement your general duty to promote disability equality.

See the Statutory Code of Practice "The Duty to Promote Disability Equality". There are separate Codes for Scotland and for England/Wales. You can download a copy of the Code from the DED website (external link, opens new browser window) or buy a copy through the Stationery Office. On the DED website, you will also find useful guidance such as "Doing the Duty: an overview of the Disability Equality Duty for the public sector".

What do we mean by public authorities?

Public authorities include:

How do we promote equal opportunities and eliminate discrimination?

Equality means that deaf people can enjoy full and equal opportunities in life without fear of discrimination or exclusion because of their deafness. Deaf people often experience disadvantage in employment, in public as well as in private life, because of prejudice and barriers in attitude, communication and physical environment. 

Public authorities can make society more equal and fair to deaf people by removing barriers and changing attitudes. For this to happen, everybody, from senior staff to frontline services, needs to be committed to delivering equality. The Disability Equality Scheme is a way to help everybody participate in this. For example, you might want to set up a working group to produce the Scheme, which includes people from different areas and levels within the organisation. You may also want to make sure that everybody has a specific role in the implementation of the Disability Equality Scheme, for example those in direct contact with customers and those who develop a strategic plan for the organisation.

Make sure all staff and governance have been trained so that they are disability and deaf aware and feel confident to communicate with disabled people. Training will also help everyone understand why certain issues are important for disabled people, identify best practice and make the best use of resources.

To achieve equality, policies and services must be designed in a way that meets everybody's needs, including those of deaf people.

The main barriers that deaf people experience are in communication, access to information and attitudes. Not many people know sign language or are aware of communication techniques to use with deaf people. There is also a shortage of communication support, such as sign language interpreters, electronic notetakers and lipspeakers. However, online sign language interpreting services and captioned software can help address this shortage.

For more information, see:

How do I promote diversity in the workplace?

Public authorities will benefit from creating, developing and retaining a diverse employment force. Access to Work is a government scheme that can help employers pay for equipment, communication support for deaf applicants and employees or training for colleagues of a new deaf employee. Many employers and managers are not aware of the scheme.

For more information about how to recruit and retain deaf people, contact the Information Line for a copy of our "Don't Panic Pack".

How do we promote positive attitudes towards deaf people?

Discrimination against deaf people often happens because employers or service providers do not understand disability and, without realising it, are patronising or offensive to disabled people. Understanding disability and being open to differences will often stop discrimination and harassment. Having a culture where people are not afraid to declare their disability will help you with the Disability Equality Duty.

You should make sure that your staff know how to communicate with deaf people or how to use communication support. You can also encourage people to attend deaf awareness and sign language classes.

How do we encourage participation in public life?

Involving deaf people in your public activities will help you create a positive culture and diversity in your organisation. It will also help you deal with mainstream disability issues and improve your services. You could involve deaf people as a board member or volunteer or you may have advisory or special interest groups.

What if we take steps that mean treating deaf people more favourably than other people?

The Disability Equality Duty allows public authorities to treat deaf people more favourably than other people if that helps equality of deaf people. That is because sometimes you will have to do something extra to make sure that deaf people have equal opportunities. For example, you could offer deaf people face-to-face meetings with communication support, as well as other ways of contacting you. You could also develop information material aimed at deaf people whose first language is sign language because they may find it difficult to access information in English.

If you are a grant-making organisation, you may wish to increase the limit on bids from deaf groups to take into account the extra costs of communication support.

How do we get deaf people more involved?

Nine million people in the UK are deaf or hard of hearing. That works out at one in seven people. So it's extremely likely that your work affects deaf people, either as employees or customers.

Involving deaf people means that you listen to their experiences and work with them continuously to identify ways to achieve equality. It means providing access and rewarding people for their time and efforts. If you build trust and confidence among deaf people so they know you are listening to them and taking them seriously, they will help you to improve your services. For example, if you are reviewing a service, you might want to ensure that deaf people are represented on the steering group. This means they will have a say through the reviewing process and continue to be involved as the recommendations are implemented.

Being deaf or hard of hearing can mean very different things to a wide range of different people. Many people with hearing loss use English to communicate. About 50,000 deaf people across the UK use sign language. Make sure that you involve a wide range of deaf people and, where relevant, talk to deaf children who will have their own experiences and views. You may also want to talk to their parents or carers, even if they are not disabled.

Deaf people are a diverse population in terms of age, gender, race, religion and belief, and sexual orientation. As with everybody else, deaf people may be in or out of education or employment and some deaf people have caring responsibilities.

Some deaf people have additional disabilities - for example, some are deafblind and others have learning difficulties. Some deaf people live in residential care or in supported housing.

Be aware that not all deaf people will identify themselves as 'disabled' because some people associate disability with wheelchair use. Other people with moderate to severe hearing loss who are disabled under the DDA definition may not identify themselves as 'deaf' or 'disabled', but they may still experience discrimination. For example, a service with automated telephone lines is difficult for people with a moderate hearing loss to use, as well as for profoundly deaf people.

You can involve deaf people as individuals or as groups. There are many local deaf groups as well as sector-specific organisations, ranging from Deaf Sport UK to the British Society on Mental Health and Deafness. Our Information Line can tell you about groups and organisations in your area. There are also deaf professionals working in various areas, for example, education, the legal profession and the arts.

To open up your organisation to deaf people, we recommend that you:

Making assumptions is not helpful. It is much more useful to ask specifically about each individual's needs. There is a wide range of communication support available. For more information, see our leaflet "Don't Miss Out".

Many deaf people prefer to communicate face-to-face or to participate in open meetings or focus groups because of the visual way of communicating. Deaf organisations can help you organise an event. Bear in mind that they often use volunteers and they will often have limited resources and time.

It is important that you tell people how their involvement has influenced your actions. Otherwise, they may feel it is a waste of their time and not work with you in the future.

See our factsheet "Producing information for deaf and hard of hearing people" and "The Disability Equality Duty and involvement" on the DED website (external link, opens new browser window).

How do we gather evidence on equality?

Evidence gathering will help you to identify barriers and best practice. It will help you to show that you are making progress. It will also help you to use your resources where they can be most effective.
You can gather evidence in different ways, including existing or new research, focus groups and individual feedback. You can also gather evidence from deaf people who use your services and those who currently do not use them. You might find out there is a reason why you are not reaching deaf people. For example, they might not be aware of the services you are offering or they might have found them inaccessible in the past.

Open meetings and focus groups work well if the right language and type of communication are used. Avoid using telephone surveys. Interviews where there is no appropriate communication support or where the interviewer does not know how to communicate with the deaf person (in spoken or signed language) will not be effective.

Deaf people may be happy to fill out short forms. Long forms will put off many deaf people who may have difficulties with English or who may find the questions intrusive. Electronic or written questionnaires may exclude deaf people whose first language is not English.

For more detailed information, see "Guidance on gathering and analysing evidence to inform action" on the DED website (external link, opens new browser window).

How do we monitor equality?

Monitoring helps you identify barriers as well as assess whether your actions are effective. For example, if you find that most of your team has received training in the last year, but the one deaf employee has not, you may want to find out why.

You can monitor in different ways - for example, by including a question about disability in forms, displaying postcards for people to fill out with feedback and asking staff to note their experiences with deaf customers.
As well as asking people whether they are disabled, it is useful to ask people about their experiences with policies and services, as this may be an indirect way of establishing a disability as well as barriers for a specific group of disabled people. For example, someone may not tick a box identifying themselves as disabled, but when asked about their experience when visiting a service they may say they cannot understand the receptionist because they are behind a glass reflective screen.

We strongly recommend that you include British Sign Language in any list of languages on monitoring forms. This will enable you to identify deaf people who do not identify themselves as disabled (although be aware that hearing people who use British Sign Language may tick this box).

How can Equality Impact Assessments help?

An Equality Impact Assessment helps you ensure new and existing policies and practices do not create barriers for disabled people. Creating barriers means that you are at risk of challenges under the Disability Discrimination Act. Removing barriers can often be costly and time-consuming, whereas avoiding them in the first place can save time and money.

Carrying out Equality Impact Assessments on existing policies and services will help you work out which barriers you can address, and what works well and why. You could prioritise these assessments by asking deaf and disabled people which policies and services have the greatest impact on them.

What if we sub-contract services?

If contractors provide frontline services it is essential that they are deaf aware and know how to communicate with deaf people, including using interpreters or other communication support. You can facilitate access by making funds available and providing support and facilities. Some public authorities allow their contractors to use their central interpreting services.

It helps if you include specific conditions in your contracts with suppliers, such as training for all their staff. For example, if you have contracted out bus services it is important that the bus company knows it must provide clear signage and route descriptions.

Where relevant, you could also place in your contracts an obligation that suppliers consult a wide range of disabled people. For example, a company that designs a hospital wing should talk to disabled people, including wheelchair users, people with mental health issues, blind and deaf people.

Where can I get further information?

Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC)

The independent advocate for equality and human rights in Britain, the EHRC aims to reduce inequality, eliminate discrimination, strengthen good relations between people, and promote and protect human rights. The commission provides help and advice on equal opportunities policy and practice to many organisations and companies.

England

Telephone: 08456 046 610 
Textphone: 08456 046 620 
Fax: 08456 77 88 78
9am to 5pm Monday to Friday, except Wednesday 8am to 8pm

Wales

Telephone: 08456 048 810 
Textphone: 08456 048 820 
Fax: 08456 048 830
9am to 5pm Monday to Friday

Scotland

Telephone: 08456 045 510 
Textphone: 08456 045 520 
Fax: 08456 045 530
9am to 5pm Monday to Friday
For online queries, go to www.equalityhumanrights.com
Users of British Sign Language (BSL) can request a videophone call

Office for Disability Issues (ODI) (opens new browser window)

Equality Commission for Northern Ireland (opens new browser window)

The Stationery Office (opens new browser window)

Further information from RNID

Our Information Line offers a wide range of information on many aspects of deafness and hearing loss. Contact us for further copies of this factsheet and our full range of information factsheets and leaflets.
RNID Information Line, 19-23 Featherstone Street, London EC1Y 8SL
Telephone: 0808 808 0123
Textphone: 0808 808 9000
Fax: 020 7296 8199
SMS: 0780 0000 360 (supported by Lloyds TSB)
Email: informationline@rnid.org.uk     

RNID Employment Training and Skills Service

We provide deafness and disability awareness training. We also help organisations to identify and implement changes that they need to make to offer a high-quality, deaf aware service and to attract, retain and develop deaf employees. RNID can audit your organisation to help identify areas for action. For more information, see our leaflet "Louder than Words".
Telephone: 020 7296 8060
Textphone: 020 7296 8050
Fax: 020 7296 8128
Email: training.services@rnid.org.uk

RNID Products

We sell special equipment for deaf people, including amplified telephones, textphones and induction loops.
RNID Products, 1 Haddonbrook Business Centre, Orton Southgate, Peterborough PE2 6YX
Telephone: 0870 789 8855
Textphone: 01733 238020
Fax: 0870 789 8822
Email: solutions@rnid.org.uk