Disability Law Service

Providing Access to the Law - National Registered Charity 280805

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Accessing Advice

Further and Higher Education

Students

The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and 2005 (DDA) has allowed the Disability Law Service to enforce the equal rights of disabled learners, where reasonable. The Act allows DLS to play a vital role in securing opportunity as disabled people are still twice as likely as non-disabled people to have no qualifications and half of disabled people of working age are not in employment.

The government has recognised that the DDA needs further support if it is to provide reasonable opportunity. The Disability Equality Scheme has been devised to do this. Fully incorporated from April 2007, and implemented by the Learning and Skills Council, the scheme will promote the DDA as well as the Duty to Promote Disability Equality Statutory Code of Practice 2006.

The Disability Equality Scheme asks adult education providers to take the experiences and perspective of learners with disabilities into their decision making process when delivering education, to then translate this into making meaningful reasonable adjustments.

However discrimination is still a problem for many students, and many continue to face:

We would ask anyone who is experiencing difficulty to contact our adviceline.

Teachers

Discrimination against teachers with disabilities

It is estimated that 20% of the workforce have a disability. However, trade union records and data from higher and further education institutions find only about 3 per cent of people working that sector have declared a disability. Similarly, the Sector Skills Council Lifelong Learning UK estimates that only 2.3% of staff working in the Further Education sector in England have voluntarily disclosed a disability.

If you are a teacher who is experiencing discrimination please contact our employment advice line.

We share the the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education’s definition of further and higher education providers as all organisations that provide education and training in the post-compulsory education sector, adult and community learning, sixth form colleges and work based learning.

In schools

If you have enquiry regarding discrimination in school education, we have published a series of factsheets that may be able to help you, click here.