Ms. J. Barnes v Richard Newton Consulting Limited — 2022

The tribunal determined a preliminary issue in the claimant's disability discrimination case and held that Ms J Barnes was a disabled person at the material time, 1 February to 17 May 2021. It found that she had a physical impairment affecting her left eye during that period, later identified in the medical evidence as a choroidal neovascular membrane associated with wet macular degeneration.

The tribunal accepted that her symptoms worsened markedly in early May 2021. It recorded an emergency eye appointment on 4 May 2021, an urgent referral on 5 May 2021 with suspected central serous retinopathy / AMD, and later hospital assessment on 1 June 2021. It accepted her evidence that the impairment caused distorted and blurred vision, difficulty judging distance and steps, problems using household appliances, reading, shopping, applying make-up, reading data on screen, and carrying out artwork; those activities were treated as normal day-to-day activities.

Applying s.6 Equality Act 2010 and Schedule 1, the tribunal found the effect of the impairment was substantial and long-term. It held the effects were more than minor or trivial, that at the material time they were likely to last at least 12 months because treatment was expected to continue for several years, and that regular Lucentis injections were a treatment measure within paragraph 5(1). It also found there was no evidence that the impairment was correctable by spectacles or contact lenses for the purpose of paragraph 5(3).