The Disability Discrimination Act

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The Disability Discrimination Act

• An introduction for exams officers2007

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How can discrimination occur?

• Discrimination against disabled applicants or
  candidates can take place in either of two ways
• by treating them less favourably than other
  people
• 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 impairment.

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Definition of disability

• In order to have rights under the Disability
  Discrimination Act (DDA), an individual must meet
  the definition of disability given in part 1 of
  the Act
• A person has a disability that is covered by
  the Act if s/he has a physical or mental
  impairment that has a substantial and long-term
  adverse effect on her/his ability to carry out
  normal day-to-day activities.
• Each part of the definition must be met before
  someone can be classed as disabled under the
  DDA. Also, some people who do not regard
  themselves as disabled may have rights under
  the DDA.

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Legal framework

• Part 4 of the DDA places a duty on educational
  bodies to ensure that
• disabled candidates do not receive less
  favourable treatment
• reasonable adjustments are made to remove any
  substantial disadvantage experienced by a
  disabled candidate.
• This responsibility applies to the full range of
  our activities, including the setting and marking
  of examinations and assessments.

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Terms

• The term physical or mental impairment can
  include
• sensory impairments, for example people with
  visual or hearing impairments
• learning difficulties, including specific
  learning difficulties such as dyslexia
• autism and Aspergers syndrome
• mental health conditions

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Terms continued

• genetic conditions
• progressive conditions
• multiple sclerosis, cancer and HIV (which are
  covered from the point of diagnosis)
• conditions such as pain or fatigue, including
  memory loss
• a past history of disability.

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Provision for candidates

• Exams officers will be very familiar with making
  adjustments to existing exam arrangements. These
  are not concessions for the individual
  candidates but adjustments designed to
  reduce/remove unfair disadvantage. They include

• modified test papers, for example enlarged print
  or braille
• up to 25 per cent extra time
• a reader or scribe
• supervised rest breaks
• different coloured scripts

• use of a bilingual dictionary
• a prompter
• use of a computer or other technology
• use of an individual room.

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Recruitment of invigilators

• Do policies make clear how applications from
  disabled individuals will be handled? Are these
  arrangements made to support their particular
  needs?
• Are there appropriate disclosure policies for
  invigilators?
• Is induction and training for invigilators
  sensitive to learning support needs?
• Have all invigilators received DDA disability
  equality training, and do they know how to
  communicate with disabled candidates?
• Do all exams officers know what provision the
  institution already makes for disabled
  candidates, and the process for ensuring that
  additional reasonable adjustments are made?

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Issues encountered

• Are the rooms used for examinations accessible?
  Are chairs available when queuing?
• Is there an accessible toilet near the
  examination room?
• Have emergency evacuation procedures been adapted
  to take account of the needs of any disabled
  candidates?
• Are invigilators aware of health and safety risks
  and, if necessary, has a risk assessment been
  undertaken for an environment?
• Are staff aware of policies on medication,
  especially during stressful occasions like
  examinations?
• Is any complaints procedure immediately
  accessible to a disabled candidate?
• Are backups in place if support equipment fails
  to work properly?
• Are invigilators aware of and sensitive to issues
  of language and communication?

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Examination issues

• Eventually it will be necessary for all barriers
  to assessment for disabled candidates, which
  cannot be justified, to be removed. However, this
  cannot happen quickly as it requires a review of
  the regulators assessment criteria for all
  subjects and the consequent revision of all the
  awarding bodies specifications.
• Dr Ellie Johnson Searle, Director JCQ, September
  2006

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Further details and information

• For more information on the DDA, please visit the
  NAA website atwww.naa.org.uk.
• The Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ)
  booklet Access arrangements and special
  consideration regulations and guidance relating
  to candidates who are eligible for adjustments in
  examinations is published annually in September.
  It can be downloaded from the JCQ website at
  www.jcq.org.uk and is also available on CD-ROM.