Disability Action Plan

Annex A - Definitions of Disability

General (for the purpose of recruitment and retention activities)

The definition of disability for the purposes of the Disability Discrimination Act section 4 is:

• total or partial loss of the person's bodily or mental functions
• total or partial loss of a part of the body
• the presence in the body of organisms causing disease or illness
• the presence in the body of organisms capable of causing disease or illness
• the malfunction, malformation or disfigurement of a part of the person's body
• a disorder or malfunction that results in the person learning differently from a person without the disorder or malfunction
• a disorder, illness or disease that affects a person's thought processes, perception of reality, emotions or judgment or that results in disturbed behaviour.

The definition of disability is broad to ensure that everyone who has a disability is protected:

• The disability may be permanent or temporary
• it may exist from birth or be acquired later in life
• a person may have one disability or a number of disabilities
• a person may be treated as having a disability when in fact he or she does not
• a person's disability may be apparent, such as loss of a limb, or hidden, such as epilepsy or depressive illness
• disability may be more or less severe in its impact
• people with the same disability are likely to have different abilities.

The aim of the definition is to ensure cases brought under the Act focus on alleged discrimination rather than contesting an applicant's disability status.

This definition is however difficult to operationalise at the practical process of data collection for APSED, therefore a different definition of disability, used by the Australian Bureau of Statistics is used to collect data and statistics from APS employees. This definition is included in the Commission's APSED collection form.

What is Discrimination under the Disability Discrimination Act?

Refer to the Australian Human Rights & Equal Opportunity Commission website.