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Current Time:
23:59:15 GMT on 09 March 2010
About the College: Policies/Charters
Disabilty Equality Scheme
Introduction
Our college is fully committed to the inclusion of students with disabilities, and we will do our utmost to ensure they receive a learning experience that enables them to achieve their full potential. The Disability Discrimination Act and the Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001 ensures that disabled people, defined as those with 'physical and mental impairments' have a right to be protected from less favourable treatment and gain reasonable adjustments. The College will seek not only to identify and eliminate disability discrimination, but also to create a working environment based on good relations between disabled and non-disabled people. Our aim is to create an inclusive ethos with a shared commitment to challenging and preventing stereotyping, prejudice and disability discrimination, and to respect diversity and difference. We will seek to ensure that all staff and learners have equal access to the full range of college facilities.
Our College has been working towards compliance with the DDA in numerous ways
- We provide a range of services to meet student needs e.g specialist dyslexia tuition, communication support
- We arrange specific support and make reasonable adjustments prior to learners commencing their studies
- We have undertaken improvements to the site to ensure disabled access to all areas of the College
- We provide diverse images in any material which we produce, including positive images of people with a range of disabilities.
- Every learner declaring a disability is offered a confidential interview to discuss her/his needs
Our commitment is for continuous improvement of services to all learners including all those with disabilities
In 2005-06 we registered 299 students with disabilities, but we recognise there may be many more who do not wish to disclose their disability and we respect their confidentiality. However we aim to get a more accurate number in 2007-08 by improving the way disability information is collected.
The Disability Equality Statement has been written in consultation with staff and learners with disabilities. The consultation has involved the Disability Equality Working Group and the Equal Opportunities Committee.
Impact Assessments
The college plans to undertake full impact assessments of all College policies in the three year period from 2007 - 2010. The Disability Equality Working Group will prioritise those policies that need to be impact assessed in the first year. The action plan will also make clear the highest priority areas. The impact assessment process will include the following stages:
- Identify all college policies and procedures
- Prioritise those policies and procedures that have a major impact on disabled people
- Gather information and evidence
- Assess impact of policies on disabled people
- Make required changes to policies
- Identify the monitoring process for new policies
- Report on impact assessment
The report on impact assessment will be published at the end of each academic year after discussion at the Equal Opportunities Committee. The report will be available on the College website.
Gathering information
The monitoring process will be used to ensure that disabled and non-disabled staff are treated equally.
The College will collect and analyse the following information regarding staff disability
- Disability profile of employees by grade/salary scale and type of work [e.g. management, teaching, support, childcare, buildings]
- Job application and selection success rates
- Type of contract (permanent, temporary agency)
- Participation in training and staff development
- Staff recruitment development and promotion.
- Grievances, disciplinary and capability proceedings
- Information from exit interviews.
The College undertakes, once the results of monitoring are available, to consider targets to reduce any disadvantage suffered by disabled employees and the targets will be published annually in the Disability Equality Action Plan.
Information on the number of declared disabled learners enrolled will be monitored. Data on learner disability is categorised according to disability type. Similarly information on the retention, achievement and success rates of disabled learners is analysed. This information will be analysed by the Equal Opportunities Committee. Actions for increasing numbers and raising achievement levels will be addressed in the Disability Equality Action Plan.
Training Staff
Continued compliance to the DDA and development of the Disability Equality Scheme will require ongoing investment in staff development and training. All new staff, as part of their induction, complete an on-line training module on the Disability Discrimination Act. This module is available on the staff intranet and can be accessed at any time by all members of staff. In addition staff training is organised throughout the year on a variety of issues including disability awareness/etiquette training. In particular two days at the end of the year are set aside for staff training across the college. This always includes at least one session dealing with disability issues.
Reporting on progress
Progress on the Disability Equality Action Plan will be monitored termly through the Equal Opportunities Committee and the Disability Equality Working Group. Progress on the Action Plan will be reviewed and published at the end of each academic year. The Disability Equality Scheme will be revised every three years and will be published in different formats that are accessible to learners, staff and the public.
