4.1 Equality Act

The Equality Act 2010 has been in force since October 2010. It brings together and replaces previous anti-discrimination Acts such as the Disability Discrimination Act.

Its aim is to make society fairer and reduce discrimination by making anti-discrimination legislation:

• more consistent,
• clearer,
• easier to follow.

There is a clear requirement in the Equality Act 2010 that disabled people should received information in an accessible format [See Sources of further Information at the end of this module].

This includes making sure that information is accessible to assistive technology. An organisation producing information that is inaccessible to assistive technology will be failing in its duty to make adjustments. It will be laying itself open to claims of discrimination. Concentrating solely on the external appearance of information is no longer good enough.