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Brief notes for access to nursing education by disabled students based on a case study sent to the disability-research list (it concerns with the UK context: Disability Discrimination Act (DDA)(1995) and Special Educational Needs and Disability Act (SENDA) (2001) It was stated by parents of a student with attention deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in a foundation nursing course that: "My daughter Sian was diagnosed with ADHD in 1997. Since then she has been on Ritalin, purely for concentration reasons. She is now 16 and has just finished her GCSE's. She has obtained good results which have enabled her to start a pre-nursing at the beginning of September at the Cambridge Regional College. She is currently spending 3 days a week at the college and 2 days at Addenbrookes Hospital. Sian has had to fill in an occupational health form which has resulted in a various telephone calls asking for additional information. Information was only provided by Sian's consultant, which was seen and approved by us. The occupational Health department at the hospital have now informed us via the college that Sian will no longer be able to continue as because she may lose concentration when on the ward and consequently put a patient at risk. This decision was made by a doctor who has had no personal contact with Sian in order to assess her. Any advice or information that you could provide would be greatly appreciated. In particular we would like to hear from anybody who has been in the same or similar position, especially if they work in a hospital with ADHD." ___________________ Due to the importance of this case for public policy purposes, this short note is sent to the list. It is a brief note rather than an exhaustive one. A research project at City University, London, the UK has looked in recent months into the public policy issues regarding access to nursing education in the light of the revived limited debate on the DDA and SENDA in the public domain as a part of a larger project. Nursing education as a type of professional education where access to the professions are regulated by the accrediting bodies and the employer organisations, it lies between the higher education and employment as can be seen from this case study where the student shares her time between the college and hospital. This is not unique to the UK context only, it applies globally such in the US where the first supreme court case on the Americans with Disabilities Act (1990) was concerned with a deaf student in a foundation nursing course similar to this case. Furthermore the issues raised in that case was raised in this case too: safety issues. The SENDA excludes the work placements from its coverage (although it includes arrangements for the work placements based on draft regulations), and it is not clear whether students in the work placements could be covered by the Part II (employment) provisions of the DDA, since the regulations under the SENDA covering professional education was delayed for further consultation. This case also raises issues on the role played by the medical experts. This case suggests that medical report was prepared without seeing the student. It is highly unlikely based on the legal history of the DDA Part II that this report could be upheld in the tribunals and courts. Courts are increasingly critical of medical reports where there are substantial discrepancies between facts and the recommendations in these reports. House of Lords (the highest court of the UK) recently found educational psychologists who prepare a medical report liable in the highly cited Phelps case. Since the SENDA is not operational yet and it does not seem to cover work placements subject to regulations, the only option is to consider the DDA part II litigation, but there does not seem to be a precedent in this area. Perhaps it would be helpful to cite the recent "Law Hospital NHS Trust" case ( Scottish Court of Session case) to this hospital and ask them to make reasonable adjustments for this student in the work place rather than terminating her work in the hospital. It would also be helpful to remind the hospital the Phelps case as an additional measure. Having said this, this case is likely to be the iceberg of the issues faced by disabled students in access to nursing education and or other professional education. On the positive side, nursing education community seems to be aware of these issues and seems to adapt a positive approach based on some personal experience as a researcher in recent months. It is perceived that the access to higher education by students with ADHD is relatively neglected issue and therefore it is not surprising that these students would continue to experience such treatments. Hope this short note deals briefly with the issues arising from this case study. _______________________________________________________ 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 _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp ________________End of message______________________ Archives and tools for the Disability-Research Discussion List are now located at: www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/disability-research.html You can JOIN or LEAVE the list from this web page.