Progressive conditions 



There are special rules for progressive conditions (Schedule 1, Paragraph 8 EA 10). Someone with a progressive condition is protected as soon as there is evidence that the condition has some adverse effect on ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities, as long as the evidence shows that in future, the adverse effect is likely to be substantial. 



Type 2 Diabetes, as a progressive condition, can amount to a disability even if the effect is not yet having a substantial adverse effect at the time of the negative treatment, if the medical evidence shows that it is likely to have such an effect in the future (Taylor v Ladbrokes Betting and Gaming Limited [2016] UKEAT 0353/15/1612).


A future adverse effect is “likely” to be substantial if a doctor would consider that it “could well” occur (SCA Packaging Limited v Boyle and the Equality and Human Rights Commission [2009] IRLR 747). The question is not what might happen in the population as a whole, but rather, what the medical evidence suggests is likely to happen to a particular claimant (Taylor v Ladbrokes Betting and Gaming Limited [2016] UKEAT 0353/15/1612).