T Kent v Oxfordshire County Council HELD AT: Reading ET (by CVP) — 2024

At a public preliminary hearing on 11 March 2024, Employment Judge McCluskey determined whether T Kent was disabled for Equality Act purposes and did not hear the claimant’s amendment application, which was listed for a later case management hearing on 23 May 2024. The claimant had worked for Oxfordshire County Council from 9 September 2022 until 19 February 2023 as a Team Manager and relied on keratoconus, supported by occupational health and optician records.

The tribunal accepted that keratoconus was a physical impairment and found that by early October 2022 it had worsened so that the claimant experienced double vision, halos, blurred vision and difficulty making out shapes when driving in the dark. It accepted her evidence that she had stopped driving in the dark and rejected the respondent’s contention that the effects were instead attributable to anxiousness rather than the impairment itself.

Applying the statutory definition in section 6 Equality Act 2010 and the authorities cited, including Goodwin, Cruickshank, Paterson, Mart and the disability guidance, the tribunal held that the effect on the claimant’s ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities was substantial. It found the restriction on night driving was more than minor or trivial even though her vision was within the legal limit for driving in February 2024.

On long-term effect, the tribunal found keratoconus was progressive, did not improve or go away, and that the worsening effects were likely to last for the rest of the claimant’s life. It therefore concluded that the claimant was a disabled person at the time of the first alleged discriminatory act on 13 October 2022 and at all material times thereafter.