Disability Discrimination Legislation Research Articles

Supporting Primary and Secondary Teachers to Deliver Inclusive Education Educatio

With Australian disability discrimination legislation and educational policy promoting movement toward inclusive education, the building and supporting of inclusive education workforce capability is of paramount importance. This study investigated how principals in Australian primary and secondary educational settings support teachers to provide inclusive education and what these principals perceive to be barriers to supporting the education workforce to deliver inclusive education. The study used an online open- and closed-set survey. The findings demonstrated that principals in educational settings across the government, Catholic and independent sectors and across geographical regions offered largely similar professional learning opportunities to their staff, and expressed similar views about barriers and principals’ roles in supporting their teachers to deliver inclusive education. Participants overwhelmingly reported that their role in building teacher capability was as instructional leaders and brokers of workforce professional learning. There was a strong indication by principals of the need for teachers’ knowledge and skills to be developed and of the need for high quality, effective ongoing professional learning. Participants reported barriers to supporting teachers to deliver inclusive education, most commonly an insufficiency of time, finances, and access. Recommendations for better supporting teachers in primary and secondary settings to deliver inclusive education are made

Disability, Reasonable Accommodation and the Employer's Obligations: Nano Nagle School v Daly

AbstractThe duty on employers to provide reasonable accommodation is a well‐established component of disability discrimination legislation, yet it continues to generate litigation in many jurisdictions. This article examines a recent decision of the Irish Supreme Court concerning the extent of the employer's obligations where, after having acquired an impairment, a worker is no longer able to perform all of the functions of her original job. The case also addressed the question of what procedures should be followed by an employer when considering the provision of reasonable accommodation, as well as the need for courts to justify awards of compensation. The issues in Irish law were intertwined with obligations arising from EU and international law instruments. Therefore, the decision is pertinent for other jurisdictions confronting similar challenges.

Supporting people with learning disabilities to have blood tests

People with learning disabilities experience challenges in accessing effective healthcare and undergoing invasive investigations, including blood tests. Disability discrimination legislation places the onus on services to make reasonable adjustments so that this group can receive effective health interventions. If people have capacity to consent, a refusal to undergo a diagnostic procedure or investigation must be respected. If they do not have capacity to consent, however, chemical or physical restraint may be used to facilitate procedures. Locally, service users were, on occasion, not receiving timely diagnosis of their health conditions because of their refusal to undergo a blood test. Individual desensitisation work was often undertaken as a result, as was treatment under sedation, with varying degrees of success.This article explores the implementation of an evidence-based group intervention that aimed to increase the likelihood that people with a learning disability would consent to receive blood tests without the need for chemical or physical restraint. Since its implementation in 2011 seven groups have been completed with a total of 18 participants, of whom 14 had a blood test successfully.

Supporting Students With Communication Impairment in Australian Schools: Administering the Obligation to Make Reasonable Adjustment

AbstractIn this article, I address the problem that education support for students with communication impairment may be delivered in an inconsistent manner within schools, or school systems, exposing affected students to harm and affected schools to the risk of litigation. Analysis of relevant Australian disability discrimination legislation and related case law demonstrates that there is a legal obligation to make reasonable adjustment for students with communication impairment and that a fair and equitable system may be postulated to administer that obligation. The Australian Government has recently committed to a needs-based funding model for Australian schools but further work needs to be done to establish how resources that flow to schools under that model should best be applied. This article aims to provide some guidance to those who will make decisions within schools about the management of the sometimes scarce and often expensive support resources for students with communication impairment.

The influence of deaf people’s dual category status on sign language planning: the British Sign Language (Scotland) Act (2015)

ABSTRACTThrough the British Sign Language (Scotland) Act, British Sign Language (BSL) was given legal status in Scotland. The main motives for the Act were a desire to put BSL on a similar footing with Gaelic and the fact that in Scotland, BSL signers are the only group whose first language is not English who must rely on disability discrimination legislation to secure access to services in their own language. I argue this is caused by deaf peoples’ dual category status, meaning they are seen within public policy as both a linguistic minority and a disability group. This article analyses how this status informed the Act’s parliamentary scrutiny and implementation measures. Data come from parliamentary debates, discussions on social media and interviews with key players involved in the process. The article demonstrates that despite the Parliament’s desire to treat BSL signers as any other language minority, the Act was subjected to a particular set of discourses which exposed it to a degree of scrutiny not experienced by discourses for spoken minority language legislation, and which points to the political and societal context in which sign languages and signers operate.

Equivalence, equality and equity for prisoners with a borderline intellectual disability: reflections from the UK

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to discuss the legislative and policy architecture governing the protection of individuals with an intellectual disability (ID) in the UK, and whether these protections extend to protect those with a borderline ID (BLID) in prison. Design/methodology/approach The paper presents policy and legislative analysis. Findings This paper argues that the legislative definitions of disability are broad and draw on a needs-based understanding of disability, meaning that those with a BLID – if they experience disability – should be included in these protections. But the clinical definitions of ID that guide access to support services tend to exclude those with a BLID. Notions of horizontal and vertical equity are invoked to examine the spirit of “equivalence” captured in legislative instruments, and how these filter into policy that may ultimately be discriminatory to those with a BLID. Research limitations/implications If the founding principle of equality legislation is equivalence, and an argument can be made that those with a BLID are protected from disability discrimination, public authorities will need to reconcile their use of clinical diagnostic cut-offs to justify service provision inside and outside of the prison estate. In essence they are faced with a choice: consider how best to provide equitable support for those with a BLID (which may not necessarily mean identical support), or risk breaching these fundamental rights. Practical implications The paper calls into question the extent to which the current suite of ID-related services (both in the community and in prison) fulfil a public authority’s obligations for vertical and horizontal equity that are captured in the disability discrimination legislation. Specifically authorities must consider whether: replicating services in prisons serves the particular needs of the prison population, or is horizontal equity only partial fulfilment? The higher than expected numbers of BLID in prison justify consideration of different services for these different needs? There is an opportunity to rethink the conceptualisation of disability service provision in the National Health Service from one defined by diagnostic bands rather than a socio-ecological understanding of need, and in doing so whether the needs of the BLID group in prison are being suitably met. Originality/value The paper provides a line of legal argument and analytical thought useful to those seeking to challenge the non-provision of support for those with a BLID; particularly those who are especially disadvantaged in prison. This paper draws attention to the disconnect between legislative intent and policy operationalisation for those with BLID. Further research and possible legal challenge is needed to clarify whether this amounts to direct or indirect discrimination.

Workplace accommodations for people with mental illness: a scoping review.

Disability discrimination legislation means that employees with a disability or mental illness are legally entitled to reasonable workplace accommodations that enable them to work effectively and safely. This scoping review aims to investigate the types of workplace accommodations provided for people with mental illness, and their costs and benefits. A literature search was conducted using five electronic databases. Peer reviewed research articles published between 1993 and June 2013 were included in this scoping review and their quality was assessed. Opinion papers, reports, and case descriptions were excluded. Nine studies explored workplace accommodations for people with mental illness. The most commonly reported work-related accommodations were flexible scheduling/reduced hours, modified training and supervision, and modified job duties/descriptions. The least common type of accommodation was physical modification to the workplace. For employees with persistent mental illness who were accessing a supported employment agency, the majority of accommodations related to support from the job coach or employment specialist, such as facilitating communication with the employer during hiring or on the job. The quality of the studies varied considerably and the benefits of the accommodations are not yet well documented. There is limited evidence that a larger number of workplace accommodations are associated with longer job tenure. Workplace accommodations appear to be important to support employees with mental illness, but more accessible information about how disability discrimination legislation applies to this population is needed. Future research should address the implementation and effectiveness of mental health-related workplace accommodations.

Development of physiotherapy inherent requirement statements – an Australian experience

BackgroundThe United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities promotes equal rights of people with a disability in all aspects of their life including their education. In Australia, Disability Discrimination legislation underpins this Convention. It mandates that higher education providers must demonstrate that no discrimination has occurred and all reasonable accommodations have been considered and implemented, to facilitate access and inclusion for a student with a disability. The first step to meeting legislative requirements is to provide students with information on the inherent requirements of a course. This paper describes the steps which were taken to develop inherent requirement statements for a 4-year entry-level physiotherapy program at one Australian university.Case presentationInherent requirement statements were developed using an existing framework, which was endorsed and mandated by the University. Items which described inherencies were extracted from Australian physiotherapy professional standards and statutory regulatory requirements, and units contained in the physiotherapy program. Data were integrated into the 8 prescribed domains: ethical behaviour, behavioural stability, legal, communication, cognition, sensory abilities, strength and mobility, and sustainable performance. Statements for each domain were developed using a 5-level framework (introductory statement, description of the inherent requirement, justification for inherency, characteristics of reasonable adjustments and exemplars) and reviewed by a University Review Panel. Refinement of statements continued until no further changes were required. Fifteen physiotherapy inherent requirement statements were developed. The eight domains identified in the existing framework, developed for Nursing, were relevant to the study of physiotherapy.ConclusionsThe inherent requirement statements developed in this study provide a transparent, defensible position on the current requirements of physiotherapy study at one Australian university. These statements are transferable to other physiotherapy programs in Australia due to standardised physiotherapy accreditation requirements. The model and framework could be applied to other health professional courses and used to explore the physiotherapy inherent requirements from an international perspective.

Managers’ understandings of supporting teachers with specific learning disabilities: macro and micro understandings in the English Further Education sector

The article explores the professionalism and the standards debate as it relates to teachers with specific learning difficulties in the context of Further Education in England. There is a tension between the government’s policy of defining teachers more tightly in terms of entry qualifications and standards whilst espousing a policy of creating a more inclusive profession as promoted by the Equalities and Disability Discrimination legislation. How prepared are leaders and managers in Further Education to address this policy tension and what insights might be drawn from the Further Education context? Interviews with key leaders and managers in a Further Education college and the analysis of college policy documents are used to illuminate the issues surrounding the inclusion of teachers with specific learning difficulties. Suggestions are offered which may provide a way forward to address the policy tension.

(Dis)Embodied Air Travel Experiences: Disability, Discrimination and the Affect of a Discontinuous Air Travel Chain

This article presents an investigation of the embodied air travel experiences of people with disability. The study was informed by human rights frameworks, social approaches to disability and critical tourism. The research design included a review of newspaper articles, human rights complaint cases, open-ended responses to a survey on the tourism experiences of people with disabilities and semistructured in-depth interviews. The findings revealed that the air travel practices routinely contravened disability discrimination legislation and identified a series of socially constructed constraints across the air travel chain from the preplanning of trips through to disembarking after a flight. What emerged from these experiences was that the embodied individuals became (dis)embodied at each stage of the air travel chain. The inequitable, inaccessible, undignified and dependent practices resulted in heightened anxiety, increased helplessness and, in some cases, humiliation to which they were not subjected in their everyday lives.

Has disability discrimination legislation changed the legal framework for epilepsy in the United Kingdom?

In this paper, I review the way in which the legislative framework in the United Kingdom has defined epilepsy. Key legislative milestones in the last 100 years, and their implications for epilepsy, are discussed; as are some landmark legal rulings. The implications of the UK Disability Discrimination Act 1995 for people with epilepsy and barriers to the Act's effectiveness are considered, as are the evidence of its impact and difficulties in measuring the impact of the Act for people with epilepsy. I end with consideration of the possible implications for people with epilepsy of the new UK Equality Act.

Drugs, Discrimination, and Disability

Whether addiction to prohibited drugs should be classified as a disability for the purposes of disability discrimination is a controversial question in Australia. The leading Australian case of Marsden v Human Rights Equal Opportunity Commission & Coffs Harbour & District Ex-Servicemen & Women's Memorial Club Ltd (HREOC, No H98/51, 30 August 1999); [2000] FCA 1619 concerned a disability discrimination complaint brought by Mr Marsden as a result of his treatment by the club. The case was brought as a public interest test case by the New South Wales Legal Aid Commission. Mr Marsden was on a methadone program at the time. The reasoning of the decision at the Federal Court opened the way for a finding that dependence on illegal drugs constituted a disability under disability discrimination legislation. The media reaction to the court's decision led to State and federal governments proposing legislation limiting legal protection from discrimination for people addicted to illegal drugs on the basis of their drug use. While the proposed federal legislation lapsed after objections from a coalition of medical, legal and other advocacy groups, the New South Wales legislation still provides that, in employment matters, it is not unlawful to discriminate against a person on the ground of disability if the disability relates to the person's addiction to a prohibited drug and the person is actually addicted to a prohibited drug at the time of the discrimination. The article details the sequence of events in the Marsden case, reflects on the role of public interest litigation in achieving social justice outcomes and suggests that Australia's recent ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on 17 July 2008 should encourage legislators to review legislation which may have a discriminatory effect on people suffering from addictions.

Law, Geography and Disability: Revealing the Idealised Spatialities of Disability Discrimination Legislation

Law, Geography and Disability: Revealing the Idealised Spatialities of Disability Discrimination Legislation

Outdoor environments for people with dementia: an exploratory study using virtual reality

ABSTRACTFew studies have investigated how outdoor environments might disable people with dementia. The issue is rarely considered in planning and design guidelines and not at all in regulations, despite dementia being within the scope of disability discrimination legislation in the United Kingdom and other countries. This article reports a study that involved older people with mild to moderate dementias taking two walks, one in a real town centre and one in a virtual reality (VR) simulation. Adaptations were made to the VR simulation to test possible design improvements. Overall, the town centre posed relatively few problems for the 38 older people with dementia who participated, although more difficulty was evident with greater impairment. Some features of particular places were liked more than others, particularly the segregation of spaces from motor traffic. There were measurable benefits from using clear textual signs to support wayfinding and to identify objects and places in the environment. Diminished outdoor activity is likely to be experienced as a decrease in quality of life and may accelerate the progression of dementia. We conclude that older people with mild to moderate dementia should be encouraged to be active outdoors and that this can be facilitated by small environmental modifications. Some limitations of the VR technology used for the study are also reported.

Disabled Access and Heritage Attractions

In a UK context, the importance of heritage tourism, the potential of the disabled market, and government policies concerning tourism, social inclusion, and the historic environment provide the setting within which access improvements at heritage attractions for disabled visitors are studied. At issue is how disabled access and conservation can be reconciled. The stakeholders range from the central actors, the disabled tourists and the heritage tourism service providers, through to the gatekeeper and lobby players in the conservation, disability, and tourism contexts. The critical power structures are identified. Changes to the historic environment are managed through the conservation planning system in which disability interests are not formally represented. Recent disability discrimination legislation has not altered this balance of power, and is a source of uncertainty over the access standards that should apply to heritage attractions. An evaluation of progress in implementing access improvements at heritage attractions reveals the limited extent of improvements undertaken to date. Consideration is given not only to physical access but also to alternative methods (intellectual access) of providing the heritage tourism service. In conclusion, the situation is examined from three perspectives. From the disabled tourists' perspective, choice of heritage attractions to visit remains restricted compared to that of nondisabled tourists. The lack of consultation with disabled stakeholders in the access improvements decision-making process is discussed, including the acceptability of alternative methods of service delivery to disabled tourists. The uncertainties facing heritage tourism service providers arising from the disability discrimination legislation are considered but, to ensure a more balanced recognition of disability interests, both conservation planning and disability discrimination legislation need to be amended, adjusting the roles of the legislative gatekeepers.

ACCESS TO HISTORIC ENVIRONMENTS FOR TOURISTS WITH DISABILITIES: A COMPROMISE?

Historic environments, the basis for heritage tourism, are difficult to access for people with disabilities. Many countries have introduced legislation to promote equal rights for people with disabilities. Historic environments, however, enjoy protection under national planning systems which limit the physical access improvements that can be made. The significance of historic environments for tourism in the UK is outlined. Barriers restricting tourists with disabilities accessing historic sites are reviewed from the heritage tourism service provider's viewpoint. Interests of the major stakeholders are considered in terms of the apparent conflict between conservation and access issues as heritage tourism service providers seek to comply with disability discrimination legislation. From a study of access improvements made by major heritage tourism service providers, good practice is identified. However, physical access improvements to enable tourists with disabilities to visit historic environments are a compromise because of the strength of conservation interests. Questions remain as to whether this compromise is acceptable to the tourist with disabilities and whether intellectual access is an acceptable substitute for physical presence.

Web site design and the Disability Discrimination Act 1995

This paper considers the application of Disability Discrimination legislation to the design and presentation of Internet web sites and takes account of the revised Code of Practice on Rights of Access – Goods, Facilities, Services and Premises published by the Disability Rights Commission in 2002.

Communication and Communication Support in Primary Care: A Survey of Deaf Patients

Modern disability discrimination legislation puts a duty on health providers to facilitate access for patients with disabilities. Deaf people – those whose first language is sign language – can have difficulties accessing health care due to problems communicating with health professionals. Ninety-eight Deaf adults living in north-west England were interviewed about their experiences of consulting in primary care, and their preferences for, and use of, communication support. Over half the sample expressed a preference for professional sign interpreter support, but only 17% had an interpreter at their last consultation; just 11% preferred to consult alone, yet more than 50% actually consulted alone. On all questions for which comparative results were available for the general population, Deaf patients as a group reported substantially less communication and less satisfaction with their primary health care provider (p<0.001 in all cases). Around one in three left their last consultation uncertain if the doct...

‘Access and achievement or social exclusion?’ are the government's policies working for disabled children and their families?

The past decade has seen significant developments in policy and practice for disabled children and their families. In particular there is a new focus upon access and inclusion, with increasing awareness of the need to see disabled children and families as active partners within policy development and implementation. There is growing awareness of the implications of disability discrimination legislation across children's services and of the importance of improving arrangements for early identification and intervention to maximise disabled children's participation within mainstream services. The National Service Framework, the advent of Children's Trusts and a new Special Education Needs (SEN) Action Programme, together with the introduction of direct payments, give encouraging messages about multi‐agency working and a strategic and ‘joined up’ approach to childhood disability. However, many disabled children and their families continue to experience discrimination, poverty and social exclusion. The challenge for the Government is to ensure that disabled children are ‘mainstreamed’ across all policy initiatives and to recognise the talents and ambitions of disabled children and their families in service design and implementation. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.

Putting Technology to Work: Experiences of People Using Assistive Technology in the Workplace

This qualitative study examined the experiences of people with disabilities who use assistive technology (AT) in open employment. This study aimed to describe and understand the factors the participants perceived as important in integrating technology into the workplace, as well as the barriers they encountered in the process. Twenty-six people with a range of congenital and acquired disabilities as well as their employers (ten) or co-workers (ten) were interviewed. The interviews were transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis. A cross-case analysis was also undertaken to explore the heterogeneity of the group of participants. Emergent themes related to the barriers experienced and support strategies used by the participants. These themes were: identifying the right technology, acquiring the technology, introducing AT into the workplace, and customising the technology. Additionally, the nature of work environments and their impact on AT users addressing their ongoing technology needs was explored. By identifying the issues and support strategies for technology users in the workplace, appropriate measures can be implemented to ensure that the spirit of disability discrimination legislation is realised in enabling people with disabilities to be integrated into the workplace. Furthermore an understanding of the heterogeneity of AT users will also enable service providers to develop a range of resources and services to meet the diverse needs of AT users in their various workplaces.