HEFCE Circular 8/96
Specification for Disability Statements required from Institutions
To Heads of HEFCE-funded Institutions
Heads of DENI-funded Universities
Of interest to: Those responsible for statutory requirements, planning, policy, providing support for students with learning difficulties and disabilities
Reference 8/96
Publication Date May 1996
Response by Friday 10 January 1997
Enquiries to Sandie Cusack 0117 931 7492
Richard Townend 0117 931 7115
or Regional Officers
Summary
1. Under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, higher education institutions (HEIs) are required to publish disability statements. Their purpose is to tell students and applicants with disabilities what facilities the institution can offer them.
2. Statements will be required every three years, but can be updated annually if there is a significant change in provision. They should describe current policy and provision, and future activity and policy development.
3. The Council believes that this will be an opportunity for HEIs to review their provision for students with disabilities, and to ensure that higher education is accessible to such students. Institutions may find the forthcoming Council publication 'Access to Higher Education: Students with Learning Difficulties and Disabilities' of use in this activity.
4. The first disability statements, and any supporting information in existing documents, should be returned to the HEFCE by Friday 10 January 1997.
Introduction
5. The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 addresses the needs of people with disabilities, particularly regarding discrimination in employment and in the provision of goods, facilities and services. HEIs will need to take account of the new Act in their capacity as employers.
6. The Act also imposes new statutory duties on the HEFCE. The HEFCE is now required to make it a condition of grant that the governing body of the institution publishes 'disability statements at such intervals as may be specified'. These statements are required to contain 'information of a specified description about the provision of facilities for education and research made by the institution in respect of persons who are disabled persons for the purposes of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995'.
7. Following consultation with the sector, the Council's Advisory Group on Students with Learning Difficulties and Disabilities (SLDD) agreed the following specification for disability statements from institutions.
Purpose
8. Disability statements should describe the facilities for education and research that an HEI offers people with disabilities. A secondary purpose is to inform the Council of such provision and to highlight good practice which the Council may draw upon in the future.
9. Institutions will continue to decide for themselves what facilities they should offer. However, the Council encourages HEIs to consider their provision for students with disabilities and to plan strategically for future developments.
Format and Content
10. Statements should be concise, informative and developmental. There should be a balance between providing relevant information in the statement itself, and referring to other more detailed documents. These should be available to interested parties on request, and attached to the statement returned to the Council. The main statement will probably be between four and eight pages long. Institutions will need to consider producing their statements and other related material in a number of forms, such as large print, Braille and cassette or video tape.
11. Statements should be structured under the following headings:
a. Current policy
b. Current provision
c. Future activity and policy development.
Current Policy
12. The statement should contain general information on policies and procedures, as they relate to students with disabilities, and the date when they became effective, for:
- equal opportunities
- access and admissions
- examinations and assessments
- quality assessment, and monitoring and evaluation of support services
- staff development and training programmes
- providing financial assistance to students with disabilities
- charging students for certain facilities.
13. Reference might be made to community/regional links, sectoral/national links and links to support agencies and other external bodies. A list of documents which contain institutional policies on the above areas may be included. If the institution does not have policies for the above areas, it should give an overview of the policies affecting students with disabilities.
Current Provision
14. Statements should describe the nature and range of provision for students with disabilities, including the following:
- a. The names and titles of the co-ordinator and member of senior management responsible for students with learning difficulties and/or disabilities, and their contact details (address, telephone number, facsimile, e-mail address).
- b. Examples of the types of information, advice, services and materials available, and a broad picture of how the institution provides support. The following questions might be addressed:
- i. Is disability information and support provided through published documents alone or through specific disability advisers?
- ii. Are advisers trained to deal with students with disabilities in general and/or are there advisers who specialise in particular disabilities?
- iii. Is there a general counselling and welfare service which deals with students with disabilities?
- iv. What kind of practical support is available? Include support provided by interpreters, lip-speakers, note-takers, readers and so on, as well as any technical support such as new equipment and information technology.
- v. What other support is available in terms of welfare and careers services, personal assistance arrangements, and student- based support groups?
- c. Academic services and support arrangements, which might include:
- special marking provision
- special arrangements for examinations
- support for placement students.
- d. IT provision - for example, equipment loan services and purchase advisory service.
- e. A general description of the physical environment. This should not be an inventory of access restrictions to all buildings, but a broad picture to help the student understand the obvious limitations of the site(s). It should cover information on, for example: split sites; access to academic facilities (including libraries); physical adaptations such as induction loops in lecture theatres; whether there is appropriate residential accommodation; catering, welfare, and sport and leisure facilities; and location of car parks.
- f. Specific information on medical facilities, transport, religious and spiritual worship, external services such as banks and shops, and award ceremonies.
15. Any restrictions on services and facilities should be included; for example, if they are not available to part-time students or those who do not receive the Disabled Student Allowances.
16. An indication should be given of the number of students with disabilities at the institution, including whether they are undergraduates or postgraduates, full-time or part-time.
Future Activity and Policy Development
17. The statement should outline the institution's plans for policy development and improvements to provision in the short and long term. This should cover at least three years to tell prospective students what they might expect over their study period.
Frequency
18. Statements should be produced every three years. However, if institutions have made significant changes to their provision for students with disabilities, the statement should be updated and submitted to the Council.
Dissemination
19. Institutions are required to publish their disability statements.
20. The statement can be referred to in the institution's prospectus and other relevant literature. It could also be included in staff induction and awareness training sessions, and appropriate sections used in marketing information which might reach prospective students with disabilities.
21. Institutions could also use the Internet/World Wide Web to disseminate their statements. The CANDO database (Careers Advisory Network on Disability Opportunities), based at Lancaster University, has offered to put all disability statements on the Internet.
The Internet address of CANDO is:
http://www.comp.lancs.ac.uk/uniservices/careers/cando
Timetable
22. Statements covering the three-year period from 1996-97 to 1998-99 should be returned to the Council by Friday 10 January 1997. This allows enough time for institutions to gather relevant information, develop appropriate policy and receive formal agreement from their governing bodies.
23. Institutions will be notified in due course of the timetable for future statements and updates.
24. Statements, and any supporting documents, should be sent to:
Ms Sandie Cusack
HEFC
Northavon House
Coldharbour Lane
BRISTOL
BS16 1QD
e-mail s.cusack@hefce.ac.uk