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Heidi Cox, a medical student at St George's Hospital Medical School, had to leave university in 1992 after unintentional injury left her disabled, but she decided to resume her training seven years later. Aiming to become a pathologist, she won a place at Oxford medical school on a course specially adapted to her needs. Her hopes were then dashed when the General Medical Council informed Oxford that it could not approve a specially adapted course that would result in the achievement of a lesser degree of skill and knowledge. With the backing of the Disability Rights Commission, Heidi won the right to take the GMC to a discrimination employment tribunal after a London tribunal ruled that “the GMC (as a trade organisation) was subject to the Disability Discrimination Act.” However, the GMC successfully appealed against this with the tribunal stating that the GMC was a body responsible for prescribing and maintaining professional standards of expertise and was not a trade organisation.

The Disability Discrimination Act was introduced in the United Kingdom in 1995 to prevent discrimination against disabled people.1 Although it focused on employment, education, and access to services, the act only applied to certain sectors and did not include qualifications bodies. This meant that many NHS services and bodies such as the GMC and the royal colleges escaped the reach of the act. But from October this year, the UK government has extended the act. It will be unlawful for any service provider—any business or organisation that serves the public— to ignore the physical access needs of the public or …