 |
 |
-----Original Message-----
From: Poppy [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 05 April 2004 15:46
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: MODEL COPY ON DISABLITY for HEI newsletters
Dear Newsletter Editor
This is model copy for use in your internal newsletters, website etc. Please feel free to use as much or as little as you like, and to insert quotes / examples of your own.
Further copies of the Guidance are available from the ECU office. The cover is bright and photogenic!
All comments, queries and copies of the published newsletter welcome.
Poppy
MODEL COPY FOR THE NEW GUIDANCE ON EMPLOYING DISABLED PEOPLE IN HE
When disabled people participate as full citizens, customers and employees everyone benefits, says new guidance from the ECU on employing disabled people in higher education. The guidance provides a comprehensive overview of best practice and legal requirements in this area.
In HE, the Special Educational Needs and Disability Act has meant that the recent focus in disability provision has been on students. The ECU felt that disabled people as colleagues merited a fresh spotlight.
“The guidance has been designed to be an easy and accessible reference on employing a disabled person,” says Erica Halvorsen, the ECU policy adviser who led on writing the guidance. “It enables institutions to understand their present responsibilities, and provides a foundation that can be built on when new legislation comes into force later this year.”
The bulk of the guidance details the changes necessary to ensure good recruitment, retention and staff development policies, and provides practical examples of best practice including step-by-step checklists to aid implementation.
It also explores some of the more elusive aspects of the topic. An understanding of the “medical and social models” (explained on p14) is important, as is sensitivity, for example in the use of language. The guidance covers that too. It offers some principles: “Is the word you want to use factual or value-laden? Is it acceptable to disabled people?”; and examples: “normal”, “able-bodied”, and “the Deaf” appear in the column of words to avoid, “Non-disabled”, and “hearing impaired” in the ‘preferred words’ column.
In her Foreword to the Guidance, Maria Eagle Minister for Disabled People welcomes the comprehensive approach of the Guidance. “While we can set the legal framework,” she writes, “bodies such as the Equality Challenge Unit fulfil a valuable role in encouraging and educating employers in higher education to understand their legal duties but also to see for themselves the benefits of employing disabled people”.
The A4 guidance is available from [give appropriate office within in your HEI]. For publications, guidance, and useful links on equality and diversity, please visit the ECU website: www.ecu.ac.uk
**********
The Equality Challenge Unit promotes diversity and equality of opportunity for all who work or seek to work in higher education. We are sponsored by the representative bodies (SCOP and Universities UK) and the four UK HE funding bodies.
This message is confidential. If you are not the intended recipient you should not copy or disclose this message to anyone but should kindly notify the sender and delete the message. Opinions, conclusions and other information in this message which do not relate to the official business of the ECU shall be understood as neither given nor endorsed by it. No contracts shall be concluded by means of this e-mail. Neither ECU nor the sender accepts any responsibility for viruses. The administrator of this e-mail service (Universities UK) reserves the right to access and disclose all messages sent over its e-mail system.
**********