Mr P Bessell v The Chief Constable of Dorset Police [2017]

This was a case involving the national vision requirements for police officers who carry Tasers. The parties were agreed that the Claimant suffered from a physical impairment for the purposes of s.6(1)(a) of the GB Equality Act, namely Deuteranopia. That impairment involved the claimant having difficulty seeing green light and made it difficult to distinguish many colours. He was, colloquially, considered to be ‘Red Green Colour Blind’.

The dispute in the case arose as to whether the impairment had a “substantial and long term adverse effect on [the Claimant’s] ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities” and the focus of the disagreement was on the substance of the effect. The