(2) Progress Towards Legislation : Even if the view is taken that a quota system is inappropriate, it does not follow that anti-discrimination legislation is the right solution. Throughout most of the 1970s and 1980s, the preferred Government response was an entirely voluntary approach by way of education and assistance, both of employers and the disabled, in the belief that goodwill towards the disabled was present, with only the means to implement it

doi:10.4324/9781843145585-97

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ABSTRACT

There is no doubt that the quota system failed to meet the aspirations and expectations of disabled people and, by the time of its abolition, it had come close to falling into disuse. The Act allowed for employers to apply for a permit exempting them from responsibilities under the quota legislation; permits were issued straightforwardly in bulk, an approach which contributed to the view that, in effect, compliance was voluntary. Evidence suggested that employer awareness of the scheme was low and did not in practice influence employment decisions.4 Only those who were registered as disabled counted towards fulfilment of quota; registration was voluntary and, for many disabled people, unnecessary and stigmatising. It became mathematically impossible for all employers to achieve their quota requirements. In these circumstances, perhaps not surprisingly, enforcement was so lax that there were only eight successful prosecutions throughout the operational period of the quota legislation.