Lawrie Phipps, TechDis

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Legislation, Disabilities and Education Web Sites

• Lawrie Phipps, TechDis
• www.techdis.ac.uk
• helpdesk_at_techdis.ac.uk

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Introduction

• TechDis - who we are and what we do
• SENDA what it means for education web sites

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TechDis

• Joint Information Systems Committee JISC
• Technologies Centre
• Mission Enhancing access for Disabled students
  and staff and students with learning learning
  difficulties learning, teaching, research and
  administration across further and higher
  education through the use of Information and
  Communication Technologies.
• Remit Technology and disabilities

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TechDis

• Projects
• VLE accessibility 2 stages
• VLE usability
• Wireless networking issues for Deaf Hearing
  Impaired students
• PDA accessibility
• ICT for students with learning difficulties (new
  project)
• Tools for web development
• Advice
• Staff development
• Databases

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TechDis Projects

• Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) and
  Accessibility
• Collating the corporate position of VLE vendors
  toward accessibility
• Examined the VLEs involved in JISC
  Interoperability Projects
• Paper will be available in June and act as
  prelude to another TechDis project VLE
  Usability
• The project established TechDis dialogue with all
  major vendors

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TechDis Projects

• Virtual Learning Environment Usability
• Based at the RNCB, Shirley Evans
• Looking at how students with disabilities use
  VLEs, e.g. how long does it take a student to
  take an online computer based test
• Builds on the Neilson/Norman research which
  demonstrated that non-educational web users,
  using screen readers took 6 times longer to
  accomplish tasks, and screen magnifier users 3
  times longer than users not using assitive
  technology
• The report will be used as a basis for a TechDis
  special interest group to establish a set of
  guidance notes for academic staff using online
  learning

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TechDis Projects

• Tools to Support Web Developers and Learning
  Technologists in Education
• Being undertaken by the Internet Research Group
  at the University of Plymouth
• An initial trawl of as identified 30 web
  evaluation tools, 10 repair tools, 20 filter
  and transformation tools
• Tools will be mapped against TechDis criteria
  that are most likely to comply with SENDA
• Two matrices will be produced the first will
  show how the tools perform to those criteria,
  e.g. does Bobby approved mean legislation
  compliant, the second will show how usable the
  tools are
• The report will be released in October and a
  series of free workshops will also be given

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Legislation

• SENDA Special Educational Needs and Disability
  Act
• Amends the Disability Discrimination Act
• Brings education (previously excluded) into the
  Act
• In force from September 2002 with the following
  exceptions
• Auxiliary Services (e.g. induction loop systems)
  Sept 2003
• Changes to Buildings Sept 2005

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Legislation

• Learning Technology e.g. CAA, VLEs, websites etc.
  will be affected from September 2002
• Two key phrases

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Less Favourable Treatment

• ...not to treat disabled students less
  favourably, without justification, for a reason
  which relates to their disability

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A student who is a wheelchair user is treated
rudely by a member of computing service. The
staff member is rude to everybody that day his
bad treatment of the disabled student is not
related to the students disability. The disabled
student has not been treated less favourably than
other students.
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Reasonable Adjustment

• to make reasonable adjustments to ensure that
  people who are disabled are not put at a
  substantial disadvantage compared to people who
  are not disabled in accessing further, higher and
  Local Education Authority-secured education.

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A partially deaf student who lip reads is
attending a Business Studies course. One of her
lecturers continues to lecture while
simultaneously writing on the whiteboard. The
student asks him to stop speaking when he turns
his back to use the whiteboard so that she can
follow what he is saying. The student is likely
to be at a substantial disadvantage if this
adjustment is not made.
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Legal Opinion Maguire v SOCOG

• A visually impaired Australian, took a legal
  action under the Commonwealth Disability
  Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth DDA), which the UK
  Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA) broadly
  mirrors.
• Mr Maguire argued that the organisers of the
  Sydney Olympics were in breach of their
  obligations under the Cth DDA by providing a Web
  site which was inaccessible.
• Rejecting SOCOGs defence that unjustifiable
  financial hardship would be incurred in making
  the site accessible, the Human Rights and Equal
  Opportunities Commission (HREOC) held that as a
  service provider SOCOG did have a duty to provide
  an accessible Web site and not discriminate
  against the disabled.
• In doing so, reference was made to the W3Cs WAI
  guidelines as a technical benchmark that SOCOG
  should have followed and which could be used to
  measure Web accessibility.

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Legal Opinion

• Maguire v SOCOG
• Australian case law is not binding in the UK but
• In cases that are unconsidered and undecided, it
  can be considered persuasive, hence
• Maguire v SOCOG will probably be used in any
  legal action
• Legal Advice SuggestsW3C priority 2
• Bobby Approved is not compliant

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Contacting TechDis

• Email helpdesk_at_techdis.ac.uk
• Web www.techdis.ac.uk
• Tel [phone]
• Fax [phone]