Discrimination against a person without a disability

You may also experience disability discrimination even if you don’t have a disability.

Personal association

This happens if you are a personal associate of a person with a disability and you have been discriminated against because of that person’s disability. Personal association with a person with a disability means you are their:

carer
spouse
partner
relative, or
close friend.

Past, future and imputed

An imputed disability means a disability that you don’t actually have but the discriminator thinks you have it.

Case study 14 – Discrimination can occur even when it is not intended

Oberoi v Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, 2001, Federal Magistrates Court of Australia

Facts: When Rajiv Oberoi lodged complaints of race discrimination with the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, the investigator reported to the Commission that Mr Oberoi’s perception of events was affected by his depression, and therefore lacked credibility. After his initial complaints were dismissed, Mr Oberoi lodged another complaint alleging that the investigator had discriminated against him.

Decision: The Court held that the Commission had decided without any evidence that the employee had depression which affected his credibility in their view. Mr Oberoi was awarded damages and an apology from the HREOC.

This case study shows that unlawful discrimination can take place without an intent to discriminate. The discriminator did not intend to discriminate against Mr Oberoi but because the Commission’s representative made a decision against him based on a belief that he had a disability, unlawful discrimination occurred.

Discrimination against a person without a disability

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