Dealing with self injury at work can be hard, particularly as there is very little information or legislation given on dealing with it. In this section we aim to provide advice and information how self injury might affect a workplace, including the disability discrimination act (UK) and what can be done to help.

The Disability Discrimination Act

The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA), first created in 1995, aims to end the discrimination that many disabled people face. The Act has since been extended, including the creation of the Disability Discrimination Act 2005. It now gives disabled people rights in the areas of employment, education, access to goods, facilities and services and the buying or renting of land or property, including making it easier for disabled people to rent property and for tenants to make disability-related adaptations.

The DDA defines a disabled person as someone who has a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on his or her ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.

For the purposes of the Act:

* substantial means neither minor nor trivial
* long term means that the effect of the impairment has lasted or is likely to last for at least 12 months (there are special rules covering recurring or fluctuating conditions)
* normal day-to-day activities include everyday things like eating, washing, walking and going shopping
* a normal day-to-day activity must affect one of the 'capacities' listed in the Act which include mobility, manual dexterity, speech, hearing, seeing and memory

Some conditions, such as a tendency to set fires and hay fever, are specifically excluded.

People who have had a disability in the past that meets this definition are also covered by the scope of the Act. There are additional provisions relating to people with progressive conditions.

The DDA 2005 nsured that people with HIV, cancer and multiple sclerosis are deemed to be covered by the DDA effectively from the point of diagnosis, rather than from the point when the condition has some adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.

It also amended the definition of disability by removing the requirement that a mental illness should be 'clinically well-recognised'.

Under the terms of the Act, if your mental illness has a substantial, adverse and long-term effect on your ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities then you are likely to be covered by the DDA.

The Act does not provide a list of impairments that are covered, but instead considers the effects of an impairment on a person. For example, someone with a mild form of depression with only minor effects may not be covered, while someone with severe depression with substantial effects on their daily life is likely to be considered as disabled under the Act.

Many people with a mental health condition do not think of themselves as 'disabled' - but they may have rights supported by the DDA.

* Definition of 'disability'

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

* dementia * depression * bipolar disorder * obsessive compulsive disorder * schizophrenia * self-harm

This is not an exhaustive list and there are varying degrees of severity. The charity Mind has factsheets on a range of mental health conditions in their 'Understanding' series.

More information on the DDA and mental health can be found on the Directgov website.

The full text of the 1995 Act can be found here. The full text of the 2005 Act can be found here.