The Equality Act only protects people who have a disability against these types of discrimination:

• Direct discrimination
• Discrimination arising from disability
• Indirect discrimination
• Harassment
• Victimisation
• Duty to make reasonable adjustments

It is possible that you have experienced discrimination in more than one way.

Direct discrimination

Direct discrimination is when you are treated worse than someone else because you have a disability. You have to show that there is a link between your disability and the way you have been treated, which can be difficult. However, you don’t always have to provide an example of a particular non-disabled person who was treated better than you if it is clear from all the circumstances that your disability was the reason why you were treated as you were.

Discrimination by association: you may be treated worse because of your connection or association with another person with a disability, even if you don’t have a disability yourself.

Discrimination by perception: you can also be treated worse because a person or organisation believes you do have a disability when you don’t.

Discrimination arising from disability

This is where you are treated badly not because of your disability but because of something that happens because of your disability.

Unlike direct discrimination, there is no need for you to compare yourself with anyone else. You just have to show that you were treated badly, and this treatment was linked to your disability.

Indirect discrimination

Indirect discrimination is where:

• a person or organisation has practices or arrangements that seem to treat everyone in an equal, non-discriminatory way. But,
• these practices or arrangements put you and others with your disability at a disadvantage compared with those who do not have your disability.

For indirect discrimination, it doesn't matter whether the person or organisation knew about your disability. This means they have to plan in advance and think about how their policies and practices may affect people with mental health problems.

But it is not indirect discrimination if the person or organisation can show these practices and arrangements were justified.

Harassment

Harassment is behaviour that you don’t want that:

• violates your dignity or creates an environment that is intimidating, degrading, offensive or humiliating, and
• is aimed at you just because you have a disability

Victimisation

Victimisation is when an employer or organisation puts you at a disadvantage just because:

• you have made allegation about discrimination, or
• you have supported someone who has made an allegation of discrimination

Making reasonable adjustments

The Equality Act says that employers and service providers should think about making reasonable adjustments (in other words, changes), if you are at a substantial disadvantage compared to other people who do not have a mental health problem.

• How and exactly when it applies depends on the context.
• You cannot be asked to pay for the cost of reasonable adjustments.
• If a person or organisation does not make reasonable adjustments when it would have been reasonable to do, this will be unlawful discrimination.

To find out more, see our pages on reasonable adjustments you could ask for from:

• your employer (work)
• your landlord or property manager (premises)
• organisations or people who provide services and public functions (such as private companies, local councils, government departments, charities, places of worship, GPs, hospitals and clinics).

This information was published in July 2017. We will revise it in 2019.