History
1713 - 1886
1713-44: Common Law drew distinction between Learning Disability and Mental Illness before the first statutory sources, which began with the Vagrancy Acts. The Vagrancy Acts allowed detention of ‘Lunatics or mad persons’, which was the 18th century definition of mental illness
1886: The 1886 Idiots Act provided separately for idiots and imbeciles, the Victorian definition for learning disability, but the 1890 Lunacy Act ignored the distinction
1920 - 1930
1920: First legislation passed to protect rights for Blind People with an Act
1927: The Mental Deficiency Act emphasised the need for care outside institutions. Definition of mental deficiency being ‘a condition of arrested or incomplete development of mind existing before the age of 18 years whether arising from inherent causes or induced by disease or injury
1930: Mental Treatment Act allowed for voluntary admissions
1944 - 1970
1944: Disabled Persons Employment Act introduced the ‘green card’ scheme and segregated state workshops and introduced the first definition of a disabled person
1959: The Mental Health Act defined mental disorder, distinct from learning disability
1970: The Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act introduced by Northwest MP Alf Morris was the first in the world to recognize and give rights to people with disabilities
The Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970
Responsibilities on Local Authority
- Welfare services and housing
- Practical assistance for people in their own homes
- Meals at home or community centres
- Adaptation of houses to meet needs
- Right to equal access recreational and educational facilities
- Aiding with travel
- Special educational facilities
- Code of practice for buildings
- Provisions for parking, access and use of mobility scooters etc on public roads and pavements
Mental Health
- Young and elderly patients to separated in wards and hospitals in local authority provided residential accommodation
- Accommodation for people with mental health disorders and substantial disabilities to be separate from that provided to the elderly
1986 - 1998
1986: The Disabled Persons Act 1986 required Social Services to provide a written assessment of disabled people to look at the abilities of informal carers when deciding the level of care needed
1995: Disability Discrimination Act gave rights to disabled people to prevent discrimination on grounds of disability and the Carers Act 1995 recognised Carers in this legislation
Disability Discrimination Act 1995
- Part I – definition of disability
- Part II – employment issues
- Part III – access to goods, facilities and services
- Part III – selling and letting of premises
- Part IV – education (SENDA)
- Part V – transport vehicles
- Part VI – National Disability Councils (Disability Rights Commission (DRC))
1998: The Human Rights Act was adopted by the European Convention of Human Rights into British Law
2005 - 2010
2005: The Mental Capacity Act provided a framework to protect people who may have lacked capacity to make decisions for themselves
Mental Capacity Act 2005
- Principles of the Act
- A person must be assumed to have capacity unless it is established that he lacks capacity
- A person is not to be treated as unable to make a decision unless all practicable steps to help him to do so have been taken without success
- A person is not to be treated as unable to make a decision merely because he makes an unwise decision
- An act done, or decision made, under this Act for or on behalf of a person who lacks capacity must be done, or made, in his best interests
- Before the act is done, or the decision is made, regard must be had to whether the purpose for which it is needed can be as effectively achieved in a way that is less restrictive of the person's rights and freedom of action
2010: The Equality Act 2010 replaced previous anti-discrmination laws into a Single Act making the law easier to understand. This provided protection from discrimination in the workplace and in wider society
The Equality Act 2010
The Equality Act strengthened the law in 9 key areas:
- Disability
- Gender
- Race
- Age
- Religion or belief
- Sexual Orientation
- Gender Reassignment
- Marriage and Civil Partnership
- Pregnancy and maternity
