Retail employment and disability

The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 introduced a range of staged measures designed to end discrimination facing people with disabilities, including statutory rights in the areas of employment. Accounting for some 10 per cent of all jobs the UK, the retail sector is a major employer and, as such, has been presented with a series of challenges in the implementation of the act, including strategic as well as operational aspects, the incorporation of disability awareness at all levels of company culture and dissemination of best practice throughout the retail industry. This paper discusses the implications of the act for retailers and assesses a number of retailer responses.