Monitoring the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 1995 - Centre for ...

the Act among potential claimants (and defendants). It is of
interest, therefore, in the present study, to understand
whether and how levels of awareness have changed and
the mechanisms by which potential parties become aware
of the Act.
■ The Phase 1 study suggested that the perceived cost and
difficulty of taking a case played a role in inhibiting cases
from being taken. The earlier research showed a low
awareness of the procedures for taking cases, and of wider
disability issues, among some advisers/ representatives,
and indeed among the judiciary itself. The effect of the
latter was reinforced by a perceived inaccessibility of the
court system to disabled litigants. The present study
provides an opportunity to examine whether and how
provision and attitudes have changed in these respects.
2.2 Methodology
The research methodology consisted of seven distinct but
overlapping stages:
1. Literature and case review
2. Expert/intermediary interviews
3. Identification of Part II and Part III cases
4. Identification of ‘potential’ Part II and Part III cases
5. Selection of cases for case studies
6. In-depth case studies of actual and potential cases
7. Case-study analysis
8. We discuss each of these stages briefly in turn below.
2.2.1 Literature and case review
This involved an examination of literature (in legal and
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