Move to Give More Rights to Disabled

See this article by that title from the Belfast Telegraph. It begins:

The Equality Minister, David Hanson, has announced the introduction of a new statutory duty that will give extra protection to disabled people.

The new duty comes into effect on January 1, 2007, and will require public authorities to consider what they can do to promote positive attitudes towards disabled people and encourage their participation in public life.

Public authorities must produce and submit to the Equality Commission, disability action plans, which must show how they plan to fufill the requirements of the staturory duty.

Mr Hanson said: "There is no doubt that the public sector can make a real difference to the lives of disabled people. By leading the way in ensuring fair treatment for disabled people by improving outcomes from their own services, and by setting the standard for other sectors to match."

This new duty is one of a series introduced by the Disability Discrimination (Northern Ireland) Order 2006.