Direct and indirect discrimination
Direct disability discrimination happens when a person with a disability is treated less favourably than a person without that disability in the same or similar circumstances.
For example, it could be direct discrimination if a person who is the best person for the job is not employed because of their disability.
Indirect discrimination can be less obvious. It can happen when employers or service providers put in place conditions, requirements or practices that appear to treat everyone the same but which actually disadvantage some people because of their disability. It will be discriminatory if a requirement or condition:
applies to everyone, but because of their disability the person is not able to comply or, although able to comply, would suffer serious disadvantage by doing so, and
the requirement or condition disadvantages a person because of their disability, and
it is unreasonable in all of the circumstances.
For example, requiring a Deaf employee to attend meetings where no Auslan interpreter is provided to enable them to understand what is being said could be indirect discrimination.
Although they could attend the meeting without an interpreter, they would suffer a serious disadvantage as they would have difficulty participating.