Disability discrimination: Variable justification defences under the DDA

In Rose v Bouchet [1999] IRLR 463, the Sheriff Principal takes the view that the wording of the two justification defences in the "services" provisions and the "employment" provisions of the Disability Discrimination Act is so different that there is no point in looking to employment cases for help in construing the defence under the services provisions. While the employment provisions require an objective approach, the test in the services provisions is partly objective and partly subjective. Consequently, the latter provisions allow a disabled person to be discriminated against on the basis of the opinion of the person carrying out the discriminatory treatment, subject only to the opinion not being an unreasonable one.