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Disability Discrimination

Disability Discrimination Ordinance (Cap. 487) (DDO)

The DDO renders unlawful certain acts which discriminate against a person on the ground of disability when committed in prescribed areas of activities, including:

  • employment
  • education
  • provision of goods, services and/or facilities
  • access to premises
  • disposal and/or management of premises
  • participation in clubs and sporting activities
  • activities of the Government

Protection is also extended in respect of discrimination on the ground of the disability of an associate, or where the discrimination arises because a person is accompanied by an interpreter, a reader, an assistant or a carer, who provides services because of the person’s disability. An “associate” includes the person’s spouse, relative, carer, a person who is living with the person on a domestic basis, or who is in a business, sporting or recreational relationship with the person.

Protection is also extended in respect of discrimination on the ground of an imputed disability. It is unlawful for a person who discriminates against or harasses another person on the basis of a mistaken perception that a person has a disability.

Disability harassment and victimisation are unlawful when committed in the areas of activities prescribed in the DDO. The DDO also protects people against vilification on the ground of disability.

In relation to the provision of goods, services and/or facilities, the DDO protects service providers from disability harassment by customers (and vice versa). This is so even if the harassment took place outside Hong Kong but on Hong Kong registered aircraft and ships.

The DDO renders disability harassment between workplace participants at a common workplace unlawful, even where there is no employment or employment-like relationship between them. The definition of a workplace participant is the same as under the SDO and RDO.

The DDO protects members or prospective members of a club from disability harassment by the management of the club.

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