Content of the regulations of the equality law for disabled German citizens

Alexander Drewes

With the creation of the equality law for disabled persons (BGG) which came into effect on 01 May 2002, the current ruling coalition in Berlin comprising of the SPD and alliance ´90/THE GREENS is trying to effect a nation wide paradigm shift in the disability policy. This paradigm shift constituted one of the promises in the coalition agreement after their win in the 1998 elections. In the meantime, six more German states, Bavaria, Brandenburg, North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxony, Saarland and Schleswig-Holstein have passed equality laws at the state level, whose regulations, which have been discussed in detail here, are very similar to those in the BGG. (Similar laws in Berlin and Saxony-Anhalt date back to earlier times and therefore do not correspond totally to the BGG.)