Is depression classed as a disability?

When does a mental health condition become a disability?

A mental health condition is considered a disability if it has a long-term effect on your normal day-to-day activity and this is defined under the Equality Act 2010.

Your condition also has to be ‘long-term’ this means does it last or is likely to last 12 months.

‘Normal day-to-day activity’ is defined as something you do regularly on a normal day. This includes things like using a computer, working set times or interacting with people.

If your mental health condition means you are disabled you can get support at work from your employer in the form of reasonable adjustments.

There are many different types of mental health condition which can lead to a disability, including:

• dementia
• depression
• bipolar disorder
• obsessive-compulsive disorder
• schizophrenia

Expert employment solicitor Robert Rocker explains and answers some questions about disability discrimination?

Transcript

Hello, my name is Mark Ferron from Castle Associate speaking to employment law experts across the country. Now in this short video, I'm speaking to employment law solicitor Robert Rocker about disability discrimination

Can anyone sue for disability discrimination?

Any disabled employee can sue for disability discrimination obviously if you don't have a disability you can sue for that.

What illnesses are covered by the Equality Act 2010?

The types of illnesses that are covered by the Equality Act include the obvious like blindness and deafness; some cancers are also included epilepsy, fibromyalgia and depression as well as a range of others.

Is depression automatically classed as a disability?

Depression is not automatically classed as a disability again it would depend on the impact of that depression, whether it affects you on a day-to-day basis, whether it was long-term and substantial.

Thank you for watching, I really hope you enjoyed this short video and if you did enjoy it please like and share and we put new videos out every week so if you haven't subscribed already what are you waiting for.