Research brief on the access to professional education and training by
disabled students following the General Medical Council case
Konur, O. (2002) Research brief on the access to professional education and
training by disabled students following the General Medical Council case, 7
May 2002, Version 1, 8,000 words (London, City University). [On-line]
http://www.student.city.ac.uk/~cx639/gmc.htm.
Abstract
This paper aims to brief all the Players involved in enabling disabled
students to have access to professional education in higher education about
the landmark case of General Medical Council v. Cox (2002) EAT decided on 22
March 2002 by the Employment Appeal Tribunal and its far-reaching
implications for disabled students in higher education and professional
education. The case is concerned with the access to medical education by a
mobility-disabled student. The reasonable adjustments to the clinical
training and academic assessment of Cox were not approved by the Education
Committee of the General Medical Council (GMC) on the ground of a threat to
the patients' safety. It was held by Mr. Justice Holland that GMC is a
qualifying body and therefore it is exempt from the employment provisions of
the Disability Discrimination Act (1995). Thus it was found that exclusion
of Cox from the medical education was lawful. The full text of the case is
provided and case is summarised in an accessible format. Its implications
are briefly discussed from an interdisciplinary context rather than the mere
legal approach with an indicative list of references. It is argued that this
case would affect access to professional education as well as to higher
education at large by disabled students. Although a Bill is passing through
the Parliament currently to extend the DDA to the 'qualifying bodies' and
the Government intends to extend the DDA to these bodies by October 2004,
higher education institutions would have defence of the Section 28S(6) and
28S(7) reinforced by Mr. Justice Holland's reasoning that access to medical
education by disabled students would constitute a threat to the public
safety. This reasoning would be effective until is overruled by the
legislation or by the Court of Appeal in the due course. In other words the
exclusion of disabled students from higher education and professional
training would continue to be lawful despite the implementation of the SENDA
(2001) starting from September 2002. It is argued in this brief that there
is no proven causal relationship between access to medical education (as
well as to any other professional education such as nursing education) and
the safety of the clients they would serve upon their graduation. This
contention is well supported by the close examination of the UK case law on
the 'clinical negligence' by medical doctors, the research literature on
access to medical education by disabled students, research on academic
assessment of disabled students in higher education and in professional
training among others. It is further argued that there is a need for the
evidence-based public policy making on access to medical education,
professional education and higher education at large rather than based on
unsupported claims of 'threats to the public safety' as done in this case
for example.
Keywords: Disabled students, access to professional education, access to
professional employment, access to higher education, General Medical Council
(GMC), Disability Discrimination Act (1995), Special Educational Needs and
Disability Act (2001), General Medical Council v. Cox (2002) EAT, research,
Graeme Catto, reasonable adjustments, reasonable academic assessment, access
to the curriculum, access to training, Disability Discrimination (Amendment)
Bill (2002), EU Employment Directive.
________________________________
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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