Hi Katy,
Katy Mann wrote:
> I would be grateful to have sight of Admissions policies from other
> Universities as we are currently reviewing ours. There are concerns
> that while we are being non-discriminatory, judging students with
> disabilities on academic criteria alone, the implications for
> supporting some students is proving immensely time consuming
> and costly. Would we be contravening new legislation if we reverted
> back to assessing students before offering them a place?
>
While trying to make at least an informal assessment of a students
needs as early as possible in the admissions process would seem a
good idea I doubt if you can any longer legally give their disability,
and our inability to cope as a reason to decline to make them an
offer.
In our School we will normally invite students who have recorded a
disability to come and see me as disabilities coordinator, usually
when they would otherwise come for interview. This allows both them
to see what we are like and what accessibility issues coming here
may involve, and also gives us a chance to assess what is involved
in anticipating their needs. We can also try and ensure they are
also doing what they need to do in terms of getting an academic needs
assessment and organising appropriate DSA support. We in our turn may
be able to suggest what equipment, software, etc they might try and
get through DSA.
One problem we do still get is students who arrive without getting
these things done in advance of arriving here, which is not good for
either them or us.
In the past we have required that students who declare a disability
have the interview before we make an academic offer. I'm uncertain
whether we can do that now, even though, as I've said, we don't use
the information we get at the interview to discriminate against
applicants.
Any thoughts?
regards
--
Toni Roome
School Disabilities Coordinator
Senior Lecturer in Statistics/OR
School of Computing and Engineering
Room: CW4/07, Tel: 01484 47 2204
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