'How can you possibly make reasonable adjustments before you know the disabled students who need them?'
10 Ways to Anticipate!
The DDA, Part IV, presents a challenge to staff in HE! It requires that anticipatory 'reasonable adjustments' are in place to make sure that disabled students are not placed at substantial disadvantage in relation to non-disabled peers. It is core to the Act that such adjustments should not simply be reactive to known, current disabled students, but that they should anticipate the needs of disabled people who have not yet even thought about applying for a place on courses. The point of real insight here is that reactive, ad hoc solutions are often, if not usually, too late to be effective. Further, reactive solutions are more labour intensive. Consider a fairly typical first year class in a large University, where there may be six hundred students, as many as 40 of whom may have disclosed a disability/impairment at the start of the academic year. Is it really feasible that a lecturer could learn about the needs of 40 individual students in time to make a meaningful response in terms of lecture delivery? A more productive approach is surely that of anticipating the generality of student needs by making sure that routine practice is as ready as possible for a diverse student population, including disabled students.
So what are some of the ways in which the needs of disabled students could be sensibly anticipated?
What you tell potential students in promotional material could demonstrate the department's thoughtfulness about ways in which course delivery and provision can take account of the needs of disabled people. E.g.
- Flexibility in degree structure or assessment strategies.
- 'Staff will be designated by each Faculty, Department or Course (as appropriate) with whom every student with a disability may discuss the course curriculum in advance, and the teaching and learning activities entailed, to ensure that their learning support and other needs are identified and made known to relevant staff.' (Policy for Promoting Opportunities for Staff and Students with Disabilities, Strathclyde University, 1995) Make sure people know who this person is for your department.
- An expression of what is core to the subject which does not present any unnecessary barriers.
All such promotional materials should be in a range of accessible formats in accessible places, and should take note of the need to ensure that web presentations of course information are on accessible web-sites.
It may be useful to establish a departmental policy about provisions which will be made for disabled students by all members of staff, and publicising this. For example, a department might collectively take the view that all lecturers will permit taping of lectures, as a straightforward reasonable adjustment for students unable to take notes. If such a policy statement was advertised to all students, then there is no longer a need for individual students to seek permission from many different lecturers, and this is helpful to students who do not wish to disclose that they have difficulty in taking notes.
The general point here is that it is helpful for disabled students to know in advance what provisions a department will make, and which ones might have to be negotiated. It should perhaps be noted that the need for students to request or negotiate reasonable adjustments repeatedly could amount to 'substantial disadvantage' under the Disability Discrimination Act, Part IV.
Routine provision of staff development in disability issues can ensure that staff are well informed of the teaching and learning needs of disabled students in time for that knowledge to be meaningful.
For example, certain classroom practices help deaf students to participate effectively. If teaching staff are aware of these practices, then they will be better placed to respond quickly and effectively to the needs of deaf students. They will also be able to consider whether the practices could be incorporated as standard teaching practices. If disabled students know that what they need is provided as a matter of routine, then there may be no need to disclose their need.
It is important to make sure that relevant staff development is made available to part-time tutors as well as full time staff.
It can be difficult to respond quickly to requests for course materials in alternative formats, and yet it is clear that disabled students will be placed at substantial disadvantage if the course is delivered to them through materials which, for them, are not accessible.
In general, digital materials are most easily converted into a range of accessible formats, such as Braille or audio. Web-based material, such as OHPs, which supports orally delivered material is most usefully made available prior to oral delivery, so that deaf students, for example, can lip-read more effectively (with the knowledge of new terminology, and subject matter), and students who would struggle to listen, read overheads and take notes simultaneously, are not required to perform this feat.
Where videos are used, subtitling or transcripts may be essential for some students, and audio descriptions of key visual information may be essential for others. Subtitled videos are also likely to be helpful to students for whom English is a second language. But the provision of subtitled videos is not likely to be possible at very short notice. This suggests that arranging for the subtitling of videos standardly used in teaching, would be a sensible anticipatory measure.
It is important to bear in mind that some students are likely to have difficulty in accessing some media for the distribution of information, such as noticeboards.
The media chosen for distributing information should make sure that all students will be able to access it. E-mail might be an appropriate alternative to noticeboards for many students.
It is likely that there will be general things that aid or inhibit the participation of current disabled students.
By making sure that current practices and provisions are responsive to current disabled students, the needs of future students can be anticipated. It is therefore helpful to be informed about how well/badly the needs of this year's disabled students are being met, by creating safe opportunities for receiving student feedback. It is important to remember that not all students are able to provide feedback in hard copy, and that for some students, questionnaires on the web or via e mail are more appropriate.
If you are renewing or purchasing equipment, the needs of diverse users can be taken into account.
For example, an adjustable height workstation would ensure access for any future student who uses a wheelchair. The institutions Assistive Technology Advisers are likely to be able to advise on the purchase of computing and other equipment which envisages use by future disabled students.
It is important to think ahead to all teaching and learning contexts, relevant to all course requirements.
While you may not be able to anticipate the detail of things with which a future disabled student might have difficulty on a future placement, you can have an anticipatory procedure for ensuring timely consideration of how needs will be identified and met. The key is to allow ample time to ensure that the detail can be considered, and technological and other solutions found. For example, the identification of software which will enable a Social Work student to complete forms independently on placement, which allows them also to use screen reading and other assistive software.
This year's placements, field trips and overseas study provide opportunities for departments to build up a picture of what is available/could be available for future disabled students. For example, one, Geoscience, department decided to video field trips so that future students unable to attend, for whatever reason, would be less disadvantaged. Routine ways of monitoring students' progress in all teaching settings may need to be adapted to ensure that any difficulties experienced by disabled students are addressed quickly and effectively. Clear lines of communication need to be established, and the student needs to be consulted about what it is that should be communicated, and to whom.
Some things can be provided for disabled students 'routinely'.
For example, a department might consider it appropriate to put all lecture material on a departmental web-site. But some disabled students might require more individual adaptations. For example, not many departments would routinely provide course materials in Braille, and some students will require this.
It is important that where disabled students' needs extend beyond the department's routine provision, requirements are relayed to the appropriate staff in time for the necessary provision to be made. Departments can therefore anticipate the periodic need to make adaptations for individual students by making sure that their communication systems are capable of conveying the relevant information in a timely way, and in a way which maintains students' expressed desire for confidentiality.
Academic departments are, clearly, not responsible for all provisions made for 'their' students.
Some anticipatory reasonable adjustments, such as the provision of core texts in alternative formats, especially digital format, might need to be negotiated with library staff. Where external departments, such as the Careers Service, work with students, it would be helpful to have in place procedures for the permitted communication of students' needs to those departments. Departments might wish to seek formal agreement from students about what it is permissible to communicate to others about their disability or about their needs, since the Act gives institutions the duty to comply with students' requests for confidentiality.
As ways of delivering courses are being devised, it is important to think about what it is that you expect students to be able to do in order to benefit from what you are doing with them, and to consider the question: 'And what if (for whatever reason) they can't do that?'
If you have ensured that, as far as possible, there are 'safety net' measures in place, then the future requirements of many disabled students will be met.
You may want to think about anticipating the likelihood that you will not be able to anticipate all reasonable adjustments!
One way of doing this is to think about ways of conveying to students and applicants a welcoming climate in which they are able to disclose their needs. A second way is to ensure that you encourage disclosure at key points in the academic year:
- On application to a course or for a change of course
- When starting a new module, elective or unit
- When registering for an examination or assessment
- On registering for a field trip, outing, placement or study abroad
- At a first meeting with a personal tutor or academic counsellor.
It will be important to make sure that staff who receive information at any of these stages are well informed about the importance of disclosure. This underlines the importance of staff development, and its role in Disability Discrimination Act. The Code of Practice which accompanies the Act says,
2.11 However, in legal proceedings against a responsible body based on the actions of an employee, it is a defence that the responsible body took 'such steps as were reasonably practicable' to prevent such actions. [s 58(5)] Training for staff on how to work with disabled people is likely to be central to such a defence. It is not a defence for the responsible body simply to show that the action took place without its knowledge or approval.
For more information on any points raised in these notes, please contact the Disability Service, on extension 3402, or e mail disabilityservice@strath.ac.uk
You can read the Disability Rights' Commission draft Code of Practice which accompanies the Disability Discrimination Act, at http://www.drc-gb.org/drc/default.asp
If you would like to undertake a systematic self-audit of your department's provision for disabled students, then you will find the Teachability materials helpful. These can be accessed at: http://www.teachability.strath.ac.uk/
Copies of the Teachability booklets are available from the Disability Service, University of Strathclyde. Staff from the Disability Service will be delighted to assist.
- Related
- Legislation
- Dda Guidance For Staff
- Anticipating Reasonable Adjustments