Today the Disabled Persons Employment Promotion Repeal Act 2007 takes effect, just in time for the International Day of Disabled People on the 3rd of December. Finally disabled people have the right to a decent wage, and the same protection by the law as non-disabled people in the workplace.
We should be celebrating, and we will. Sadly though, there is still discrimination out there. The high number of complaints received by the Human Rights Commission is testimony to that, and I suspect that is just the tip of the iceberg. Find me a disabled person over the age of twenty one and they have probably experienced discrimination at some time. I certainly have. The DPEP Act, (Disabled Person Employment Promotions Act) might have been OK in the sixties but its time has long gone. Good riddance. It will not be mourned by many.
