Sounds like an excellent subject for your PhD application St John.
Seriously though I do agree there needs to be a bit more investigation into how much
students actually take up what is offered to them and whether it depends on training
available etc.
Mike Wray
Project Coordinator
Demos Project
http://www.demos.ac.uk
tel: 0161 247 3377
fax: 0161 247 6852
text: 0161 247 3492
>>> [log in to unmask] 02/07/03 04:39pm >>>
Yup I can see all the reasons why such a policy wouldn't be practical. It
was really a solo brain storming exercise which I thought I might as well
share. However...
A recurring theme here and on other forums is "levels" of disability (I'm
trying very hard not to confine this debate to dyslexia but I guess we
all know that's what I'm talking about). At the moment the merest mention
of dyslexia in an EP report qualifies the student for DSA and all that
entails. The needs assessor can of course tell the student that their
dyslexia is not severe enough to warrant any specialist support but how
often does that happen? Instead the needs assessment addresses all
possible potential needs which may or may not arise and makes
recommendations accordingly. Another recurring theme is how much of the
support provided is actually used by the student.
So by putting the onus on the student (or the EP or whatever) to
demonstrate significant effect on ability before going anywhere near an
Access Centre ensures that the needs been addressed are real and support
is not being provided just in case it is needed. It would also eliminate
from DSA eligibility those students where the significant factor in their
ability to study is not their disability but is their low academic
ability.
Please note that this is all just throwing ideas around for discussion
rather that a serious attempt to rewrite the legislation. Then again this
is not a million miles away from the definition of a disability under
DDA...
St.John Skeates
Awards Section
Bedfordshire County Council
Direct Line 01234 718744
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