Disabled students get new rights
Thousands of disabled students will have new rights to better access on university and further education campuses.
New laws, which came into force on 1 September, mean that colleges and universities must now provide step-free routes into buildings.
The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) now obliges colleges and universities to make ‘reasonable' changes to their premises to make them more user-friendly for Britain's disabled students.
Campuses will have to ensure that lecture halls, libraries, ICT suites and halls of residence are more user-friendly.
Such changes could include providing ramps into buildings, lifts, improved lighting and dropping kerbs.
The Disability Rights Commission says too many disabled students do not apply for places because access is poor.
Last year more than 22,000 disabled students applied through the University and College Admissions System.
However, research by the Disability Rights Commission (DRC) in 2002 among young disabled people found that of those who had not gone on to further or higher education, 30% felt they were prevented from doing so for a reason relating to their impairment.
Bert Massie, Chairman of the DRC, said: “Going on to further and higher education is key for disabled people to get the skills they need to fulfil their ambitions. Access to the sites of learning is fundamental to this.
“No matter how accessible the teaching is, it's not much use if you can't get in the door. This term will see the final piece of the jigsaw going into place giving disabled people the rights they need to ensure they get the education to which they are entitled.”
These new laws are the latest part of the process of applying disability legislation to further and higher education.
In 2002 a fairer admissions procedure was introduced, and in 2003 institutions had a duty to provide extra services and equipment like large print and sign language interpreters.
Large sums of money have been made available specifically to improve disabled access - for example the Higher Education Funding Council for England has spent more that £170m over the last four years.
Barbra Waters, chief executive of Skill - the National Bureau of Students with Disabilities, said: “I hope this will be a smooth transmission because providers have had plenty of warning that this was coming.”
Further and higher education institutions have been supported by substantial capital investment by post-16 funding bodies.
The Higher Education Funding Council for England, for example, had two capital projects allocating £56 million in 2001 and £117 million in 2003 to higher education institutions, specifically targeted at improving provision for disabled students.