A recent Employment Appeal Tribunal ruled that disabled people who volunteer cannot claim disability discrimination under the Disability Discrimination Act. So far as I understand the ruling of the case, it relates to the employment status of the individual involved rather than their impairment — it's thus the applicability of the Disability Discrimination Act, rather than the discrimination itself that's in question.
This news comes at the same time as Volunteering England has announced it is going to undertake an inquiry into the rights of volunteers. This is in response to the very issue highlighted above: that unpaid workers have no legal rights and that they can be dismissed without any due process.
I very much support Volunteering England's inquiry and hope that they will fully consider disabled people. Volunteering is one key pathway for some disabled people to develop and gain confidence to, if they choose, get into or regain employment. If the key piece of legislation pertaining to disabled people isn't applicable to volunteers, it can only have a negative impact on the opportunities available for disabled people.
I hope that Volunteering England's inquiry can and does make serious recommendations to address this.
