- A child with a disability is a child with a special ability -

Discrimination in education

Disability Discrimination and Schools

From September 2002 it is unlawful for schools in England and Wales to discriminate against pupils with a learnng disability. The Disability Discrimination Act now applies to all schools and covers all aspects of school life. This covers mainstream schools, special schools and independent schools. There are new duties for all these schools to avoid discriminating against disabled pupils

Schools are now not able to refuse a place to a child with a learning disability unless they can prove that the education of other children would be adversely affected or that they are not able to take reasonable steps to educate the disabled pupil.

Who at the school is responsible for these new disability discrimination duties?

It is the Governing Body of the school that is responsible for making sure that the school is not acting in a discriminatory way. You can find out from the head teacher or the LEA, the name of the Chair of Governors and the name of the Special Educational Needs Governor. They will be able to give more detailed information about the school is working to avoid discriminating against disabled pupils. The will have a written policy on inclusion and by April 2003 have to publish plans on how they will extend access to all pupils in the coming years.

In the case of independent schools it is the proprietor or the management group of the school and they have the same duties to avoid discrimination as all other schools.

The school I really want for my child says that they are not able to meet their needs. Isn't this discrimination?

The new law makes it clear to schools that they have to take reasonable steps to admit and educate your child. They may not be able to do this within time for your child. If, for example, all the school staff needed to learn sign language it would take time for the school to manage this.

I think the school could take reasonable steps to help my child what can I do about this?

In the first instance it would be best to discuss this with the head teacher and consider writing to the Chair of Governors. The school Governors will need to check that the school has taken all reasonable steps and that disabled children are not at a substantial disadvantage. The school is allowed to take into account: -
. The costs of taking reasonable steps
The need to maintain academic standards
. Whether it is practical to make changes
. The health and safety of all the pupils

You may want to use the school's complaints procedure and you can do this at the same time as making a claim to the Tribunal or using the conciliation service

What help outside the school is there for my child and me?

All Local Education Authorities have to provide information and advice to parents of children with special educational needs. This information and advice is available through the Parent Partnership service

There are also independent disagreement resolution (mediation) services available to parents in every local area and these may be able to help resolve a dispute about discrimination. The Parent Partnership Service or the independent mediation service may also be able to help you use the school complaints procedure and give you information about conciliation and about the Tribunal.

Parents can make a claim that their child has experienced unlawful discrimination through the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal. This Tribunal can order any remedy except financial compensation. Parents must make a claim to the Tribunal within 6 months of the alleged discrimination.

The Disability Rights Commission runs an independent conciliation service to promote settlement of claims without going to the Tribunal. Both you and the Governing Body (or proprietors of an independent school) have to agree if the conciliation service is to be used. Agreeing to use either mediation or conciliation does not affect your right to take your claim of discrimination to the Tribunal. If you use the conciliation service this means that you have 8 months from the decision or discriminatory incident to take your claim the Tribunal.

The Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal can be contacted on 0207-925-6902. They have a useful booklet and video that explain about making a claim.

Part 4 of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (as amended by the Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001) - schools

A guide for parents in England and Wales

Introduction

From September 2002, if your child has a disability and has been discriminated against in education, you may be able to challenge this under the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA).

The Disability Rights Commission (DRC) Helpline (see back cover) can give you more advice and information. From September 2002, we will offer advice, information and support to parents and schools to help in sorting out problems. If you decide to make a claim against the school the DRC may also be able to legally represent your child.

Please also note that in addition to the legislation about discrimination in schools, there is separate legislation covering special educational needs and improving accessibility (see pages X and X).

Section one – the law

Who is responsible for meeting the new duties?

The “responsible body” for your child’s school is ultimately responsible in law for meeting the new duties and may be different depending on which school your child attends.

Please use this table for reference.

Responsible Body

Type of school Responsible body
Maintained school The governing body, in general
Pupil referral unit The local education authority
Maintained nursery school The local education authority
Independent school The proprietor
Special school that is not maintained by a local education authority The proprietor

Does my child have rights under the DDA?

The DDA defines disability as "a physical or mental impairment, which has a substantial and long-term adverse affect on a person’s
ability to perform normal day-to-day activities". For example, if your child has problems with mobility, seeing or hearing, learning disabilities, mental health problems, epilepsy, Aids, asthma,
diabetes or a progressive condition such as multiple sclerosis, then he or she may be covered under the DDA.

How can the DDA help my child?

From September 2002, it will be against the law for schools to discriminate against your child for a reason related to his/her
disability in:

• admissions
• education and associated services, including:

Ø school trips
Ø the curriculum
Ø teaching and learning
Ø school sports
Ø the serving of schools meals

• exclusions.

There are two aspects to discrimination.

Less favourable treatment

1. A school may be discriminating if it treats a child "less favourably" for a reason related to his/her disability, and it cannot justify that treatment.

For example:

· refusing your child’s application to go to the school because of his/her disability
· Refusing to let your child go on a school trip because he has diabetes

Justifying less favourable treatment

In some cases, the school may be able to justify treating your child "less favourably" if it can show that it did so for a “material and substantial” reason. This means that the reason must relate to your child’s particular case and be significant enough to justify discrimination.

Less favourable treatment may also be justified if it is the result of a permitted form of selection.

Failure to take reasonable steps

2. The school can also be accused of discrimination if it does not take "reasonable steps" to ensure your child is not at a substantial disadvantage compared to the other pupils at the school.

For example:

• a secondary school fails to make the arrangements necessary for your child to be able to sit public exams
• a deaf pupil who lip-reads is at a substantial disadvantage because teachers continue speaking while facing away from him to write on the board
• a pupil with dyslexia is told she cannot have her teacher’s lesson notes, and that she should take notes during lessons "like everyone else".

How does all this differ from the rights of children with "special educational needs"?

The Educational Act 1996 says "a child has special educational needs if he or she has a learning difficulty which calls for special
educational provision". However not all disabled children have
special educational needs. For example, if your child has severe asthma, he/she may not have special educational needs, but may have a disability under the DDA.

The DDA does not require schools to provide "auxiliary aids and services" such as sign language, interpreters or information formats such as braille or audiotape. These can be provided through
the Special Educational Needs (SEN) Framework, which individually assesses your child’s special educational needs.

Please note that the Department for Educational and Skills (DfES) says that schools have a duty under the DDA to make reasonable
adjustments for disabled parents. For example, by providing interpreters at parents’ evenings.

Making access to school buildings and the curriculum easier for disabled children

Local Education Authorities (LEAs) and schools will also have new duties that mean they must gradually implement plans to improve access for disabled children. These plans should include:

• improvements in access to the curriculum
• physical improvements to increase access to the school buildings
• improvements in information in a range of formats for disabled children. This may include braille, audiotape or large print formats.

Schools should make these plans available to parents.

Section two – The law in practice

What do schools need to do?

Schools will be expected to take "reasonable steps" to meet the
needs of disabled children who might become pupils. So schools should think about the broad range of needs of pupils with different disabilities. However, this does not include making changes to school buildings to make them accessible, or providing specialist equipment or support. Both these areas are dealt with via different routes – the new planning duty for schools and LEA’s and the Special Educational Needs Framework respectively. See below for further details of these.

Schools should regularly review their policies, practices and procedures to ensure that disabled children are not at
a disadvantage because of their disability.

Should I tell the school about my child’s disability?

Yes, it may be the best thing to do. If you decide not to tell, and your child is discriminated against, the school may be able to claim in its defence that it did not know about the disability. Schools are advised to ask if your child has a disability when he/she starts school.

Section three: What should I do if I think my child has been discriminated against?

The DRC advises that your first point of contact if you feel your child has been discriminated against in school is the Head Teacher. If a discussion with the Head Teacher does not resolve the issue, the school and the education authority should have complaints procedures that you can follow. If not, you may wish to contact the DRC Helpline.

Information and Advice

The DRC Helpline should be able to provide you with information and advice at any point in this process.

Casework and Conciliation

The DRC Helpline should be able to help. It may refer your dispute to the DRC Casework Service. If we can help, we will take up your child’s case on your behalf. We may be able to get a satisfactory
result without taking the case further.

Alternatively, if the responsible body for the school agrees, we may refer the dispute to the Disability Conciliation Service (DCS). The
aim is to reach an agreement that both sides accept. This does not stop you from taking legal action at the same time or later on if you are unhappy with the outcome of conciliation.

If your claim is referred to conciliation, you will have an additional two months to take legal action - ie eight months from the alleged discriminatory act.

Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal

You may be able to take your child’s dispute further than the DRC
Casework and Conciliation Services and claim for unlawful discrimination. In England and Wales, most claims of disability
discrimination are heard by the Special Education Needs and Disability Tribunals (SENDIST). But claims against maintained schools of discrimination in admissions and exclusions are heard by admission appeal panels and exclusion appeal panels.

You need to make the claim to SENDIST within six months of the date when the alleged discrimination took place. If your claim is referred to conciliation, you have another two months to do so.

If your claim is successful, SENDIST can order the school to use any “reasonable” remedy, except financial compensation. For example, SENDIST might order the school to arrange disability training for staff or to change a policy or procedure.

SENDIST has produced a leaflet detailing how to make a claim. See below for SENDIST’s contact details.

Section four – further information

Educating for equality

The Disability Rights Commission is campaigning to improve choice and opportunity for disabled children and their parents in education.

For more information about the DRC Educating for Equality Campaign or to become involved please contact our Helpline.

Disability Rights Commission (DRC)
DRC Helpline
Freepost MID 02164
Stratford-upon-Avon
CV37 9BR

Telephone: 08457 622 633
Textphone: 08457 622 644
Fax: 08457 778 878

Or email us at: enquiry@drc-gb.org

Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal (SENDIST)

Post:
SENDIST
7th Floor
Windsor House
50 Victoria Street
London SW1H 0NW

Telephone: 020 7925 5750
Fax: 020 7925 6786

Or email at: tribunalqueries@sent.gsi.gov.uk

go to top

© copyright 2001- 2003 all rights reserved

to bookmark this site 'right click' on the link below http://www.special-abilities.net then choose 'add to favorites'
	Donate food by clicking here
Our web hosts are