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Evaluate the effectiveness of the law in delivering justice through legal and non legal means to people with mental or physical disability.

                                     


An understanding of people with mental or physical disability, have grown significantly by the start of the 21st century. In the past, society’s lack of knowledge of these conditions resulted in widespread discrimination and abuse of people with some form of mental disability. Today, various levels of government have accepted a responsibility to redress the mistreatment of these people in the past by providing legislative and other assistance.

There are several pieces of legislation at state and federal level that protect the rights of people who are mentally ill or physically disabled. They also provide sanctions for those who break the law. These legislations are very effective to those people, because it prevent them from being exploited or simply ignored. This include the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cwlth), and the Anti-Discrimination Act
1977 (NSW) who states that disability discrimination has taken place if, because of a person’s disability, someone else treats them less favourably than the discriminator would treat a person without a disability in similar circumstances.

The key phrase ‘to treat them less favourably’ suggests that a person does not have to treat someone nastily or set out to deliberately hurt them for discrimination to occur. Courts may award damages to people who suffer disability discrimination. Similarly under New South Wales law, the Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 (NSW) will impose sanctions on people who discriminate illegally.

The law also try to deliver justice and fairness to the people with mental or physical disability in a court of law. A person, who is mentally ill, does not give any other person the right to assault them or take advantage of them. For example, if an individual entered into a contract with a...