Hi Iain,
you are correct to pick me up on t his question of reasonableness.
A court may agree with an LEA. My concern is that either way the student has to take action to do something about this. The student who is possibly already struggling. The student who wants to maintain a good relationship with their host institution.
Once again things have been arranged so that the preference is to the system and not to the individual. How can a student possibly have the time and energy to make such a challenge of an HEI or an LEA - even with the support of the DRC, Skill or whichever advocate. It all takes time when they have to concentrate on their studies - possibly because reasonable adjustments have not been made. It is no wonder there is little case law - reasonableness seems unlikely to be clearly defined as it suits many people for it not to be.
I guess at least with the change to the SLC (student loan company) there will be only one central body making decisions and this may help. Although how SLC intends to manage this remains to be seen. Let's hope they have thought about these issues. (they have after all consulted around 250 disabled students.)
More information on this change to the SLC would be very welcome, if anyone can help...
Alex
Former Disability Officer
07931 561 877
MNADP
----------------------------------------
> Date: Fri, 8 Jun 2007 10:23:44 +0100
> From: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: DSA funding
> To: [log in to unmask]
>
> Hi Alex
>
> I remember someone sensible and wise (Dave Laycock, perhaps) making one of
> the earliest comments as SENDA came out. The question was "Who will decide
> what is reasonable?" The knee-jerk answer has developed over the years: "The
> courts will decide", but with few court judgments to guide us, we, the
> people who are left guessing what such judgments might be like are left to
> develop our own opinions on reasonableness. That's why I agree with some of
> what you are saying here, but it may be an oversimplification to say: "It
> also seems to be unfair that a reasonable adjustment is not being made.
> Unfair to the student and the university." The LEA's position, I suspect,
> will be that they are being reasonable and the uni, assessor and student are
> not. Who knows, a court might agree with the LEA.
>
> I say this not as criticism of your argument, which I have some time for,
> but to help with the clarification you are seeking (and I am seeking in my
> own head).
>
> Cheers
>
> Iain
>
> Iain Hood
> Senior Student Adviser
> Student Support Services
> Anglia Ruskin University
> East Road
> Cambridge
> CB1 1PT
>
> 0845 196 2316
> [log in to unmask]
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "alex larg"
> To:
> Sent: Thursday, June 07, 2007 4:54 PM
> Subject: DSA funding
>
>
> Dear Colleagues,
>
> perhaps someone could clarify something for me.
>
> LEAs currently pay assessment centres in excess of 400 pounds for
> "professional" opinion in the form of a report on the needs of an individual
> student. Assessors work within the guidelines that they have available, they
> meet the student and spend some time with them discussing their perceived
> needs and bring their own experience to the table to share with the student
> to try and establish what will be the best study strategies to employ at
> that point of the course and hopefully for some time in the future. However
> I understand that LEAs sometimes decide that the recommended strategies are
> not appropriate.
>
> I accept that LEA officers are experienced individuals and knowledgable
> about the financial side of DSA and support, but what is the point of money
> being spent on a needs assessment if the need is then rejected perhaps on
> the grounds of cost?
>
> A hypothetical example of this might be an assessor recommending a note
> taker for a severely dyslexic and dyspraxic student, but the LEA only
> committing to pay for a digital recorder and software such as Dragon so that
> the student can somehow transcribe their own notes. This may be achieveable
> in theory, but in practise the additional time and energy it would take such
> an individual would likely be too much for any but the most remarkable of
> individual.
>
> It also seems to be unfair that a reasonable adjustment is not being made.
> Unfair to the student and the university. The university are at risk of
> legal action because they have the responsibility for making lectures and
> studying accessible, however they don't necessarily have the resources as
> this (note taker support in this instance) should come through the LEA as
> recommened by the needs assessor - we seem to be in a loop somewhere which
> leaves the university at risk and more importantly the student high and dry
> and possibly failing.
>
> Does anyboby know if there has been any high quality and appropraite
> training for LEA awards officers to help them fully understand the
> difficultues faced by students with specific learning difficulties or mental
> health difficulties for that matter? Has anybody else had any similar
> difficulties with supporting students in terms of funding for
> recommendations, and how can students and disability officers best deal with
> these situation in future as they arise?
>
> Alex larg
> Former Disability Officer
>
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