My understanding of the legislation and practice which is followed
elsewhere matched Ozcan's. After all, the intention of part 4 was to
bring educational institutions into line with the rest of the country
covered by the DDA. However, in the workshops in the Skill/DRC
conference in London last year the expectation seemed to be that HEIs
would face responsibilities of the kind suggested by the intial
posting. At the time I thought there was some confusion of roles on
the part of facilitators: as advocates for students with disabilities
they want the widest possible coverage, while I attended to learn what
baseline provision was being demanded. When I have spoken to anyone
who attended, they all have the impression that anything in the way
of human or equipment support that is available to home students must
be provided for international students, including such things as EP
assessments and ACCESS Centre assessments. It seems improbable that
this was intended by the legislators, but I can easily imagine ways
in which international students are intended to be covered (in the
way that freedom of employment in Europe means that disabled people
from the Continent are covered by sections of the DDA). Is there
anything like a consensus from, say, NADO or the like as to what is
reasonable for international students (including those from the EU)?

Regards, Bernard

On Fri, 15 Feb 2002 12:05:13 +0000 Ozcan KONUR <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

> Konur, O. (2002) Resonable adjustments for disabled international students
> by higher education institutions in the UK, Admin-Ukcosa, 14 February 2002.
>
> Ms. Coopersmith wrote in ADMIN-UKCOSA on 14 Febraury 2002 that:
> "I understand from a colleague ( Disability Adviser at UNL )
> that the new DDA Part 4 comes into force in September 2002. This will
> require all HEI's to treat all disabled international students the same way
> as home students. This will include the provision and payment of services
> to these international students like Dyslexia
> Tests and tutorials, readers, support workers etc. Does anyone have any
> comment or advise to give on this. Can we charge additional fees for this,
> can we use public funds for this - like hardship funds etc.
>
> This message raises an important policy issue regarding the provision of
> services for the international students: whether the higher education
> institutions have any legal duties to provide any support at all for these
> students.
>
> The message above hints that indeed instutions have such duties starting
> from September 2002.
>
> The whole texts of the Special Educational Needs and Disability Act (SENDA)
> (2001) as regard to higher education (and further education) as well as its
> accompanying draft codes of practices for post-16 education and draft
> regulations were provided full text in a relatively accessible manner with
> annotations (where possible) at
> http://www.student.city.ac.uk/~cx639/index.htm as a free outreach service
> from a four year long personally funded research project carried out at City
> University since October 1998.
>
> The close reading of these materials suggest that only the 'less-favourable
> treatment duty' would come into force in September 2002 and the 'reasonable
> adjustment duty' would come into force in September 2003 and the duty to
> make permanent changes to physical structure and buildings later on in
> September 2004(5).
>
> So no institution would have any duty at all to make reasonable adjustments
> for any disabled students of 'home' or 'overseas' students in September
> 2002.
>
> Next, nowhere in the Act, there is a provision for overseas students.
> Furthermore, the justification clauses for the reasonable adjustment duty
> clearly states that indeed institution has considerable discretion in this
> area. For example if there is any conflict between SENDA duties and other
> previous legal duties, SENDA duties are not applicable.
>
> It is well established that overseas student may not have recourse to the
> public funds while they are studying where they do not meet certain
> eligibility requirements. This may also extend to the reasonable adjustment
> duties. Furthermore the cost of such duties for 'home students' are
> normally met by the Disabled Students' Allowances (DSA) (or equivalent in
> Scotland and NI) currently administered by the local education authorities.
> Any student who may not have access to such funding may not have any
> further funding from institution. There may be recourse to the
> institutionally administered Hardship funds. Again the 'public funding'
> clause for the overseas students may apply here too. The case law on
> international students have been uncompromising regarding the recourse to
> public funds by internatinoal students in the UK.
>
> The lack of such funding has been one of the major barriers for the mobility
> of disabled students globally. Depending on the nature and type of
> disability the cost of such provisions may cost thousands of pounds and
> students may not have funds to meet such costs. Furthermore, the case law
> in the US recently changed so that such disabled US students may not have
> funding while studying overseas for disability related costs under the
> Americans with Disabilities Act (1990). Once the final version of the Code
> of Practice and regulations for the SENDA is published there may be much
> certainty in this area.
>
> Hope it helps.
>
> ________________________________
> Ozcan KONUR
> Postal address: Rehabilitation Resource Centre (Walmsley Building Room
> W223), City University, Northampton Square, London EC1V 0HB, The United
> Kingdom.
> E-mail: [log in to unmask]
> Research project URL: http://www.student.city.ac.uk/~cx639/index.htm
> Phone: 020 7040 0271
>
>
>
> _________________________________________________________________
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----------------------
Bernard Doherty
Student Adviser
Anglia Polytechnic University
Tel: 01223 363271 x2434
Fax: 01223 363369
Minicom: 01223 576155

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