** Reply to note from "Ozcan KONUR" <[log in to unmask]> Sat, 13 May 2000 06:19:37 GMT
> The cited data protection document in recent message does not include any
> enforcement characteristics such as any statement on the misuse of the data
> collected from the disabled students. DIsabled stduents should have a
> remedy in teh cases where they are made suffer due to misuse of the
> information about their disability status.
>
> It also covers an alarming statement that this information would be made
> available to external organisations. Such a blanket consent form would be
> ultimately harmful for these students. For example, the references to
> potential employers should not have any disability information without the
> express consent of students concerned.
Hi,
You raise some interesting issues and you identify clearly a catch-22
situation, effectively damned if we do damned if we don't. Catch 22 being,
if we try to help we might do wrong against Data Protection legislation if we
don't try to help then we do wrong vis-a-vis Disability legislation.
Further, if we disclose details of a student to his/her department you feel
the lecturer may discriminate against the student, if we don't a lecturer may
still treat a student badly because of "decreased" performance. However, we
do say, the onus is with the student to disclose his/her disability/special
need to the department. So we won't tell :-)
We want to encourage students to register as this - we feel - is the best way
of helping them. If the attempt is to cover our backs, then we should
discourage students from registering, ie. the less we know the better.
However, we choose to help and there is a unit set up to care just for
Disabled and Special needs students. There is more legislation on its way
and I don't know how things will change.
> It also covers an alarming statement that this information would be made
> available to external organisations. Such a blanket consent form would be
> ultimately harmful for these students. For example, the references to
> potential employers should not have any disability information without the
> express consent of students concerned.
The statement needs to state clearly the reasons for collecting the data. In
the first instance the outside organisations would be Health and Social
Services, and specialists (eg. psychologists) and any firms who may need to
create specialist equipment for a student although in that case they would
not need to know any details. I don't see what employeers have to do with
this or why should the unit in question be involved with employeers and
references. No, the info. sould not be given to potential employers but ...
References are a different issue, and again you'll find a catch 22 situation.
In staffing matters that I am more involved with, our line is to give honest
defensible answers. I believe as we keep a sickness record we may have to
declare if asked days of absence, but I don't know what else happens
should/should not be done. No doubt this can start a different debate.
At this stage I am not able to write an
exhaustive list of organisations nor are we prepared as an institution to
redirect resources to solicitors to write us "perfect" statements. In my
view, we are here to do research and teach students, and not to spend our
scarce resources to cover our backs. I would not feel any better (nor the
student for this matter) if we gave them a very long statement (like you get
from fianance organisations) to sign.
As far as the "statement" goes there have been considerably better
suggestions which I will adopt.
Thanks to everyone who contributed.
Charles
==============================================
Charles Christacopoulos, Secretary's Office, University of Dundee,
Dundee DD1 4HN, (Scotland) United Kingdom.
Tel: +44+(0)1382-344891. Fax: +44+(0)1382-201604.
http://somis.ais.dundee.ac.uk/
Scottish Search Maestro http://somis2.ais.dundee.ac.uk/
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