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Regarding your query re. accommodation for disabled students. There is no reason why all new and/or refurbished student accommodation shouldn't meet basic access standards. Finding accommodation for any disabled person is a nightmare, including disabled students. Given the one or two rooms that most universities why can't any new accommodation be accessible in order to increase accessible stock. Any student can acquire an impairment and disabled students may wish to visit their friends. Having accessibe student accommodation is also a selling point for universities as, having organised conferences with large numbers of disabled participants I know how difficult, if not impossible, it is to find accessible venues. I have just spent a weekend at a conference held at York University and the access was appalling for me as a wheelchair user. We could have sold our accessible rooms five or six times over. Trade unions go to big hotels such as the Grand in Brighton (where the Tory party conference was bombed) because they cannot find alternatives which will accommodate all their disabled members. To summarise, new housing needs to meet specific access requirements so why not new accommodation for students? ---------- > From: Loretto O'Callaghan <[log in to unmask]> > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Accommodation for disabled people > Date: 04 August 1998 10:17 > > Hello! > > I would be interested to learn whether any of you have been asked your views > regarding the number of units of accommodation suitable for use by disabled > persons you consider should be built in to any new build or refurbishment > programmes in your institutions. If so I would be grateful for your > comments and what ratios you used. > > Obviously if your College's accommodation is utilized during vacation > periods by PG students or by visitors to any Summer Lettings Scheme that is > a consideration also. > > Thank you for anything! > > Kind regards, Loretto. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%