Liz Petley wrote:
> Does anyone have experience of:
>
> 1. LEAs insisting on a minimum of three quotes on pieces of
> equipment, even when in some cases they are very specialised and it
> is difficult to find more than one supplier;
Whenever I am asked for three quotes I refuse on the grounds that I
do not always know of three suppliers whose service I would stand
behind. The ones we use go out of their way to be supportive
one-stop-shops to save the student having to run round gathering
items together and then arguing with them all if something doesn't
work. You do have to know your supplier to do this.
> 2. LEAs refusing to accept the recommendations of a member of the
> National Federation of Access Centres.
We are not infallible and I have had my own reccomendations
questioned on several occasions. I often get other people's reports
sent to me if an LEA sees something they don't like. This includes
the odd NFAC member and I always handle them the same way. I refuse
to comment until I have spoken to the original author to understand
their interpretation of the situation. We keep in touch with each
other over broad issues of policy but do not echo each others every
detail.
> The welfare advisor in our Guild of Students is currently grappling
> with such a case and would like to know if these problems are
> widespread or if it is just one LEA being awkward. In this case the
> student has a clearly defined physical disability and we hoped it
> would be a straightforward case. If we can quote the practice of
> other authorities it might help us get a quicker decision.
Does the original author know of the problem? If the LEA thinks the
report requires defending s/he is the obvious person to do it.
Physical problems rarely cause dispute.
Dave Laycock MBE
Head of CCPD, Chair of NFAC
Computer Centre for People with Disabilities
University of Westminster
72 Great Portland Street
London W1N 5AL
tel. 0171-911-5161
fax. 0171-911-5162
WWW home page: http://www.wmin.ac.uk/ccpd/
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