Disability impact

Disability legislation to be introduced in October will have a significant impact on solicitors, the newly elected chairwoman of the Group for Solicitors with Disabilities, Sue Maynard Campbell, said last week.

Amendments to the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 extending employment responsibilities to all businesses - not just those employing 15 people or less - and obliging them to make offices physically accessible to the disabled will force law firms to confront the issue of disability, Ms Maynard Campbell told the Gazette.

A former chairwoman of the advisory committee for disabled people in employment and training in the Department for Work and Pensions, Ms Maynard Campbell said: 'With new legislation coming in, disabled people's awareness of their rights will be raised significantly.

The group can help the profession to adjust to that change.'

She added: 'There is still an amazing amount of ignorance about what disability means in relation to working life, and law firms are no exception.

It is extremely difficult even now for disabled people to gain employment as solicitors.'

Meanwhile, a joint parliamentary committee on the Draft Disability Discrimination Bill has recommended that the new Bill should allow tribunals to re-instate disabled employees in disability discrimination cases.

Joint chairman of the Law Society's health and disability committee David Ruebain said: 'The scrutiny by the joint committee is an opportunity to address some of the outstanding issues.'

Rachel Rothwell