Disability Awareness

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Disability Awareness
November 27th 2008

• Dr Val Chapman
• National Teaching Fellow
• University of Worcester

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This session aims

• To raise your awareness of the barriers faced by
  disabled students
• To help you identify and address discriminatory
  practices
• To remind you of the Disability Discrimination
  Act (DDA) and its relevance to your own practice.

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As a result of engaging in this session you
should be able to

• Determine the differences between different
  models of disability
• Describe the impact of stereotyping
• Employ appropriate behaviour with disabled
  students
• Identify some of the barriers faced by disabled
  students in learning, teaching and assessment
• Identify and address discriminatory practices

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Disability FAQs

• Around 9 million disabled people in the UK -
  dyslexia is not included in this figure
• Only 3 are born with disabilities
• 93 of disabled people live in the community in
  ordinary domestic settings
• Many disabled people have more than one
  disability
• There are 6 million disabled people of working
  age in UK
• Disability rates increase with age whilst 10 per
  cent of adults aged 16-24 are disabled, this
  increased to over one third in the 50 to
  retirement age category

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Disability FAQs

• In the UK, disability is described as those with
  
• visual impairments - 1 million
• hearing impairments - 7.5million
• mobility problems - 1/2 million wheelchair users
• learning difficulties - 1 million (e.g. Down's
  Syndrome)
• mental health difficulties - includes depression,
  can be intermittent
• invisible disabilities e.g. epilepsy, asthma
• disfigurement
• cancer
• HIV

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Images of disabled people

• pitiable and pathetic, sweet and innocent a
  miracle cure
• an object of violence
• sinister and evil
• atmosphere or curio
• super cripple
• an object of ridicule
• having a chip on their shoulder/aggressive
  avenger
• burden/outcast
• sexually abnormal
• incapable of participating fully in community
  life
• normal

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Models of disability
?

• Medical model
• A problem to be cured / solved /fixed
• Focus on medical terminology or diagnosis
• Charity or tragedy model
• Based on pity brave, tragic, special
• Social model
• Living / working / social environment and
  prejudice creating barriers

?
?
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Stereotyping and priming

• Telethons use images of brave, smiling and
  grateful recipients of charity
• Reliance on cute children, gives a false
  impression of the real incidence of disability
• Creates the impression that it is not the job of
  the state to provide essential funds for
  disadvantaged groups

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Disability Etiquette - Language
DONT USE
USE

• person with a problem
• handicapped, invalid
• suffering from
• afflicted by
• crippled
• special needs
• wheelchair bound
• confined to a wheelchair
• deaf dumb, deaf mute
• normal

• disability
• disabled person/student
• people with impairments
• not/non disabled
• Deaf/person with a hearing
• impairment (with or without
• speech)
• blind/partially sighted
• wheelchair user
• mental health difficulties

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Disability Etiquette
DONT
DO

• Make eye contact
• Be patient friendly
• Face the person when
• speaking
• Offer to help
• Remember not all
• disabilities are visible

• Address the support worker
• rather than the individual
• Patronise
• Exaggerate words slowly or speak
• louder
• Ask about a persons disability
• its rude
• Assume someone wants help

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Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) Who is
disabled?

• According to the Act an adult or child is
  disabled
• if he or she has a physical or mental impairment
• that has a
• substantial
• adverse
• long term (lasting or expected to last for at
  least a year) effect on his or her ability to
  carry out normal day to day activities

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What are "normal day-to-day activities"?

• mobility
• manual dexterity
• physical co-ordination
• continence
• ability to lift, carry or otherwise move everyday
  objects
• speech, hearing or eyesight
• memory or ability to concentrate, learn or
• understand
• perception of the risk of physical danger

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DDA Discrimination

• Discrimination against disabled people can take
  place in either of two ways.
• By treating them less favourably than other
  people
• or
• By failing to make a reasonable adjustment when
  they are placed at a substantial disadvantage
  compared to other people for a reason relating to
  their disability

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Reasonable Adjustments

• A reasonable adjustment might
• be any action that helps to
• alleviate a substantial
• disadvantage

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Anticipatory Adjustments

• Institutions should consider what adjustments
• future disabled students, applicants or
• employees may need, and make them in advance

• e.g.
• training staff to work with disabled people
• and to provide appropriate adjustments
• altering the physical environment

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A reasonable adjustment might be

• changing standard institutional procedures
• adapting the workplace, curriculum, electronic or
  other materials, or modifying the delivery of
  teaching
• providing additional services, such as a sign
  language interpreter or materials in Braille

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REMEMBER!

• Adjustments are as individual as the people who
  need them and the circumstances in which they are
  used discuss what may be required with the
  disabled student.

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A competence standard is

• an academic, medical or other standard applied
  by or on behalf of an education provider for the
  purpose of determining whether a person has a
  particular level of competence or ability.
  (5.71)
• For example, an applicant for a degree in music
  which
• involves a substantial element of performance is
  required
• to demonstrate a certain level of ability in
  playing an
• instrument. This would be a competence standard.
• Competence standards apply to ALL students.

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A competence standard is not

• For example
• The admission criteria for a course in
  Choreography
• include a requirement to demonstrate a high
  level of
• physical fitness. The course itself, however, is
• predominantly theory based and does not involve
  any
• strenuous physical activity. This is unlikely to
  be a
• competence standard.

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Competence standards

• There is no duty to make reasonable
• adjustments to a provision, criterion or
• practice which the Act defines as a
• competence standard. (5.70)

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But

• Institutions have a duty to make reasonable
  adjustments to the way in which disabled students
  and applicants can show that they have attained
  competence standards.

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What is inclusive assessment?

• What is accessibility?
• What are the curriculum/assessment design issues?

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Equality or equivalence?

• All students who have notified us of their
  special needs are considered as individual cases.
  Assessment and examination needs are discussed
  personally and in confidence at a special
  interview.
• All special examination / assessment
  arrangements should be agreed well in advance,
  evidence of your disability should be submitted
  tono later than.
• Your examinations will take place on the same
  time and date as the other students on your
  course, but will normally be in a separate room.
  

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QU

• To register with Disability Services you will
  need to attend an assessment interview with a
  Disability Officer. If you disclose your
  disability on your application form you will
  automatically be invited to meet with a member of
  Disability Services staff for an assessment
  interview once you have accepted your firm offer.

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Equality or equivalence?

• Consider the following words
• prove
• evidence
• notify
• special
• separate
• register
• interview

How many of these words apply to ALL students?
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Curriculum design can one size fit all?

• Reasonable adjustments
• e.g. allowing more time, scribe, assistive
  technology
• Separate provision
• e.g. different times, different rooms, different
  ways of assessing
• Is it possible to design assessments for all...?

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All roads lead to Rome?
Car Bicycle Plane Scooter Roller-skate Boat Train
Walk Motorbike Unicycle Hovercraft
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Intended learning outcomes

• Does it matter how someone demonstrates the
  achievement of a particular outcome?
• Should everyone have a choice in the way they
  demonstrate the ILO?
• Is it true that, for some courses, the process of
  demonstrating knowledge and understanding is a
  legitimate learning outcome in itself?

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Inclusive L,TA key questions

• Should we stop regarding disabled students as
  special cases ?
• Can we design flexible and inclusive curricula
  and assessment so that all students experience
  the same educational processes and experiences?
• Does the process of making modifications to exams
  and assessment maintain the barriers to disabled
  students full and equal participation in higher
  and further education?