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I am afraid I do not understand your reasoning on this matter, David, and I think that it leads to the wrong conclusions. To use an example, if a student with Asperger's syndrome experiences disproportionately high levels of stress and anxiety because he or she cannot find parking places prior to attending lectures or visiting the library, and his or her difficulties are not recognized by the relevant government department as "mobility" difficulties, does that mean that he or she should not be given parking privileges by the Institution? Your response would seem to be that the DSA should take care of this by paying for taxi fares, a move that would not only reduce the student's autonomy, but would also (I would imagine) incur far greater costs than the alternative of making a parking space available. An apparent inconsistency involved in the response should also be noted, viz. the DSA would pay for taxi transport only if the need was disability related, and if this is recognized by the Institution then the possession by the student of a blue badge would seem to be irrelevant to the case. Put another way, either we say that only people qualifying for blue badges can have disability-related parking difficulties (which is, of course, false) or we accept that the blue badge scheme does not extend to some who need disabled parking spaces on campus. Yours, Martin. Dr Martin Ladbury CELT Assessor ----- Original Message ----- From: "David Filmer" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Friday, October 22, 2004 9:24 AM Subject: Re: Parking query > I'd argue that if the State (through the blue badge scheme) don't recognise him as being > disabled enough to qualify for parking concessions, then why should you. Virtually every > business and service only recognise blue badge holders. It's the recognised assessment > of level of disability. If he doesn't qualify, then theoretically he's able to cope with > distance, and general mobility to a sufficient level to be able to park elsewhere - he's just > struggling like everyone else, to find a space close enough. Taxis through the DSA and > access to suitable drop-off points is a reasonable adjustment. > > David > > === David Filmer, Disability Co-ordinator > AdditionalSupport and Disability Advice Centre > Student Advice Services, University of Portsmouth, > Nuffield Centre, St Michael's Road, Portsmouth, PO1 2ED > Tel: (023) 9284 3462 ~ Fax: (023) 9284 3460 > > > On 21 Oct 2004 at 12:18, Elaine wrote: > > Date sent: Thu, 21 Oct 2004 12:18:25 +0100 > From: Elaine <[log in to unmask]> > Subject:Re: Parking query > > > David - we do this for students - we will even allow temporary parking > > on just seeing an application form for a blue badge for a student. > > The issue here is with a regular visitor (who incidentally was turned > > down for a blue badge) who says that it shouldn't make any difference > > legally speaking. We say it does. Who is right? We have offered to > > allow a car through to drop him off and to pick him up, but this isn't > > what he wants. > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Discussion list for disabled students and their support staff. > > [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of David Filmer Sent: 21 > > October 2004 09:51 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Parking > > query > > > > As a disabled driver myself, I am not in favour of expanding parking > > schemes to those who do not qualify for blue badges. This bypasses the > > assessments that are already in place for identifying those > > individuals who have real difficulties, and therefore need to park in > > wide space or nearer to buildings. > > > Here at Portsmouth we have significant parking limitations and the > > university has a blanket policy not to provide parking for students. > > We recommend that disabled students firstly apply for a blue badge. If > > successful, then a University parking permit is granted and they can > > park in the 'disabled' bays. If they are not successful, we use the > > DSA to cover the costs of using taxis to get the student around (thus > > avoiding the parking issues). > > > Some students with mobility issues also obtain scooters through the > > DSA in order that they can get around the campus without relying on a > > car at all! > > > David > > > === David Filmer, Disability Co-ordinator > > AdditionalSupport and Disability Advice Centre > > Student Advice Services, University of Portsmouth, > > Nuffield Centre, St Michael's Road, Portsmouth, PO1 2ED > > Tel: (023) 9284 3462 ~ Fax: (023) 9284 3460 > > > > > On 20 Oct 2004 at 10:44, Caroline Davies wrote: > > > > > > > When I managed the service for disabled students at the University > > > of > > > North London we did exactly what Phil Satchell suggests. Parking > > > was considered as part of the internal needs assessment process. > > > Access to certain adjustments required evidence and this was one > > > of them. If a student provided evidence and was considered to need > > > a place but did not have a Blue Badge we gave them an > > > institutional badge. This was reviewed on an annual basis. We were > > > not flooded because we looked very carefully at all requests.This > > > approachmeant that we could give a space to a member of staff with > > > Crohn's Disease who could not risk using public transport and to a > > > student with phobic mental health problems. Looking back, the > > > system could probably have done with tightening up but it worked > > > well enough and there were no complaints. > > > > I should also say that our parking was almost non-existent. It > > > > was > > > strictly controlled and only available for university vehicles and > > > disabled students, staff and visitors. Even the Vice Chancellor > > > did not drive in! > > > > At the time UNL also had a stated 'orange badge only' policy > > > > and we > > > just worked around it. I think such a policy would now be > > > potentially discriminatory and it could not be regarded as > > > providing a 'reasonable' response to individual needs. Clearly the > > > overall amount of spaces would have to be taken into account when > > > deciding what was reasonable. > > > > The issue of whether a student from another HEI should expect > > > > a > > > parking place is another issue (irrespective of whether your uni > > > validates the course). If the university has a policy of allowing > > > such students to use their library then I suppose technically they > > > are visitors. Just thinking aloud: if this facility is available, > > > would not this then make the university liable to provide > > > reasonable adjustments under Part 3 of the DDA, access to > > > services? > > > > Caroline > > > > ************************************************* > > > Dr Caroline Davies > > > consultant in disability provision in HE > > > [log in to unmask] > > > 07905 79 91 40 0207 731 4058 > > > David > > > David Filmer, Disability Co-ordinator > > Additional Support and Disability Advice Centre > > Student Advice Services, University of Portsmouth, > > Nuffield Centre, St Michael's Road, Portsmouth, PO1 2ED > > Tel: (023) 9284 3462 ~ Fax: (023) 9284 3460 > > >