Disability and the Law

Instructions
1. Work through the social and medical models material level 2 and take notes ready to feedback
2. Complete the Cloze activities on the DDA and work of the DRC, and the 2004 changes to the DDA
3. Prepare a list of changes the College *(old and new buildings) would have to make to become DDA compliant - use the text and links below to help you with question 3

Disability Discrimination Act (DDA)

The SEN and Disability Act 2001 and the Disability Discrimination Act 2005 amended the Disability Discrimination Act 1995. The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) requires schools:

not to treat disabled pupils 'less favourably'
to make reasonable adjustments to ensure that disabled pupils are not at a substantial disadvantage
to draw up plans to show how, over time, they will increase access to education for disabled pupils (school accessibility plans)
to comply with the Disability Equality Duty
to prepare, publish, implement and report on a Disability Equality Scheme.

The Disability Equality Duty includes an important duty to eliminate harassment of disabled people that is related to their disability. Schools therefore need to tackle the bullying of children with SEN and disabilities as part of complying with this part of the Disability Equality Duty. Guidance on tackling the bullying of children with SEN and disabilities can be found here.

A short summary of schools' duties under disability discrimination law can be downloaded here. More detailed guidance can be obtained by following other links on this page, but you may find it helpful to read the summary first. Similar duties apply to local authorities.