A university makes an offer of a place to a student who is a wheelchair user on the condition that she finds her own living accommodation locally. No other students have this condition placed upon them. This is a substantial disadvantage.
An adult education centre holds an enrolment evening. The staff member registering students instructs a blind enquirer to wait to be called until someone else can help him to fill in the form rather than registering him immediately. The enquirer is not called and by the time he himself approaches the desk the course he wants to join is full and he is told it is too late to enrol.
This would be a substantial disadvantage and likely to be unlawful.
A partially deaf student who lip reads is attending a business studies course. One of her lecturers continues to lecture while simultaneously writing on the white- board. The student asks him to stop speaking when he turns his back to write on the board.
If this adjustment is not made the student is at a substantial disadvantage.
A student with restricted growth requests that all university notice boards are lowered in height so that he can read the information more easily. He is, however, able to read the notices without significant difficulty or discomfort when the boards are placed at their usual height.
This is unlikely to be found a substantial disadvantage.
A youth club has a policy of not allowing dogs into its premises. A blind person needs his guide dog to navigate around the premises.
This person would be at a substantial disadvantage if a change is not made to the policy.
A local education authority has three adult education centres. A wheel chair user wishes to attend a part-time art class at one particular centre which is nearest to his home. That centre does not have an accessible art room. However another of the centres, only about half a mile further on, runs the same class with the same tutor and does have an accessible art room.
The student is unlikely to be placed at a substantial disadvantage.
A tutor in Zoology delivers one of his modules through a computer based learning environment and awards marks for student’s participation in on-line discussion. The system does not work with a visually impaired student’s soft-ware.
The student is likely to be placed at a substantial disadvantage.
Adult education providers should not wait until a disabled person applies to a course or tries to use a service before thinking about what reasonable adjustments they could make.
We should be continually anticipating the requirements of disabled students and what adjustments we could be making for them.
All teaching staff in a local prison produce all their hand-outs in electronic form, ensuring that they can be easily converted into Braille, large print and screen reader compatible. This is anticipating a reasonable adjustment.
The Disability Discrimination Act: DDA, does not specify what is a reasonable adjustment. It is our duty under the act to think ahead; to think what adjustments can we make now to widen access for everyone to life long learning.
A further Education college puts learning programmes into different module levels. This allows learners with learning difficulties to access one part of a programme at a more advanced level but require another part at a more basic level.
An anticipatory reasonable adjustment.
A youth service requires all of it’s staff and volunteers to attend regular disability equality/awareness training.
This is anticipating reasonable adjustments that might need to be made.
A small college that is unable to employ a large number of specialist staff ensures that it has close links with other organisations so that it is able to call on specialist support workers, e.g. dyslexia support.
This is anticipating reasonable adjustment towards dyslexic students.
A university encourages its lecturers to place all notes on its institution intranet. It introduces new procedures to ensure that all notes placed on the intranet are compatible with access soft-ware.
e.g. visually impaired students.
An anticipatory reasonable adjustment.
A FE college makes its budget allocations to departments at the beginning of each year. Because it knows that the need for reasonable adjustment can occur at any time during the year it ensures there is sufficient flexibility in the budget to reallocate money between departments during the year if necessary.
A very good anticipatory adjustment.
A college has had a large number of students over the year requiring assistance with taking medication. The college has no current member of staff willing to administer medication. The college recruits a support worker, part of whose duties is to do this.
Anticipating the access needs of some students.
A university ensures that its buildings department is thoroughly briefed on all aspects of physical access. Each time building works are undertaken an assessment is made of how the building can be made more accessible. For e.g. when an area is re painted the department ensures that it is using colour contrasts which will help visually impaired students. It also carries out an acoustic audit to ensure that it is responding appropriately to deaf and hearing impaired students.
Reasonable adjustment to physical features of buildings is a legal duty after October 2005
An education authority provides most of its adult education classes in rented accommodation. It draws up a list of access standards it requires it’s accommodation to meet before looking for the accommodation.
Anticipating reasonable adjustments, building access into the process.
A HE institution has a partnership agreement with a housing association to provide residential accommodation for students. It works with the housing association to make some of the rooms accessible for wheelchair users.
Anticipating reasonable adjustments.
The above examples are taken from the Code of Practice: Disability Discrimination Act Part 4 and part 3. They are concerned with not discriminating in the way we deliver our services.
Contact addresses for information about the DDA part 4 SENDA are listed in appendix 1.