Reporter: Watchdog says disabled people are still being treated like second-class-citizens 20 years after the Disability Discrimination Act came in. The Equality and Human Rights Commission Report says disabled people have lower attainment in school, are more likely to be living in poverty, and less likely to be in work. Its chair is David Isaac. 

David: Of the 13 million people who are disabled, less than 50% are in employment. We believe that there's a huge contribution disabled people can make, and people don't fully understand the contribution that people can make, and the reasonable adjustments that, without a huge amount of money, could easily be incorporated to make those people contribute much more to society.

Reporter: Robin Christopherson, is Head of Digital Inclusion at the Disability Technology charity AbilityNet. He's been blind since his late teens, hello Robin. 

Robin: Hi, hi guys. 

Reporter: Is this something you recognise? Disabled people being treated like second-class-citizens?

Robin: I think the main challenge is the fact that employers in particular really can't imagine disabled people working productively in their workforce, or in the workplace which is absolutely the opposite to what is reality. If your hands don't work very well and you can use voice-recognition then you can type much, much more quickly than somebody who's using their fingers. Me as a blind user, my speech is at a speed much faster than people can normally comfortably read with their eyes, there are so many adjustments. And as Mr Isaac said, just then, they really don't cost that much. With the advent of the iPhone (I'm talking to you on one now), they can be used by everybody with a whole range of different disabilities. You know, Professor Hawking could use an iPhone with a single switch. The technology is there, the price is coming down. You no longer have to buy expensive specialist devices. And employers in particular really need to kind of get with the programme and realise that you really need to ask what disabled people can't do, not what they can do. 

Reporter: Is it something, Robin that you've forced that change to happen, or did you find that your employers wanted to help?

Robin: So I got a degree. I was then looking for jobs and getting nowhere even though I went to Cambridge. I was lucky enough to get a good education because I had the right technology. I had a talking laptop that, back in the '80s was the size of a small suitcase. But nevertheless, the technology's been there for so long. And I was getting nowhere. And then I ended up applying for really, jobs that were just very, very kind of, jobs that I wasn't hoping to get in the first place. And people were saying, why are you applying? You're overqualified. And they wouldn't even give me those jobs. So it's a really vicious circle. So I was very, very fortunate to end up working a job where my disability was seen as a positive, it was seen as a plus. And just like NASA who, when they had the shuttle going up, of the seven crew members, they always made sure there was one with dyslexia, because people with dyslexia have much better lateral thinking skills, they were really good people to have around in a tight spot. And so a diverse workforce is a very, very positive thing. And even when employers have their own targets for 5% of their workforce to have a disability, it's very, very difficult to get through the door. And adjustments are there, the technology is absolutely here today, and yet, 73% of people with a vision impairment like myself are out of work. Everybody's got so much to offer, the technology has meant that they get their education. If the mainstream school that they went to had the right adjustments in place (which is another story to talk about). 

Reporter: I wonder whether Robin, you would see legislation force this further. In speaking with David earlier, he was saying there's still lots to catch up with in terms of making it part of domestic law and policy. 

Robin: We would actually point back at the government to a certain extent. Last August I published an open letter to the government about the fact that they haven't been enforcing the legislation that's been around for so long. You can get a parking fine if you stay one millisecond over your parking metre limit. You can get a speeding ticket on the motorway. And all of that is right and proper. But there's no recourse for people who have inaccessible software or websites which is often the reason that employers say why they can't employ people even though it's a legal requirement. So we would want the government not to have disabled individuals being the ones who have to take the companies to court. We want them to start reinforcing this part of the legislation and hopefully, with today's report, they will start doing that. 

Reporter: Thanks for your time tonight Robin. Robin Christopherson, Head of Digital Inclusion at the charity AbilityNet. We did ask the Department for Work and Pensions to speak to us, no one was available. In a statement we were told that "the UK's a world leader "in this area, we're proud of the work that we do "to support people with disabilities and health conditions "to increase opportunities and tackle inaccessibility." 5 live Drive, it's 16 minutes past five.