The access sections of SENDA take affect in September 2005, a year later
than the DDA's provisions. My experience working with access consultant
Victoria Waddington (www.vwassoc.co.uk) is that many universities have their
access preparations well under way, and are concerned to work to best
practice standards rather than minimum compliance.
SENDA is formulated as being about the needs and rights of students, which
leads to the situation pointed out by Malcolm, where their responsibilities
to the general public, and to their staff, come under the DDA. This seems
to imply that parts of a university such as the boiler-room, staff offices
or even the library have to be accessible a year earlier than areas used for
teaching.
SENDA has a particular limitation, in that it uses the same 'ability to
perform everday tasks' definition as the DDA. It is not clear how much of
what takes place in higher education counts as 'everyday tasks'. This could
work against, for example, a dyslexic student seeking extra time to answer
an examination.
All the best
Allan Sutherland
----- Original Message -----
From: "Malcolm Macourt" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, May 24, 2004 8:40 AM
Subject: SENDA and UK HE
> I understood that one of the objectives of the Special Educational Needs
and
> Disability Act 2001 (SENDA) was to bring educational provision - including
> Further and Higher Education not just compulsory school-age education -
within
> the DDA ambit.
>
> HE institutions are already covered when their premises are used for
purposes
> other than education. As employers they are also already covered.
>
> The timescale for the implementation of some of the sections of SENDA has
> still some time to go.
>
>
> Malcolm Macourt,
> Newcastle upon Tyne
>
> ________________End of message______________________
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