Thank you all for your complex and interesting thoughts. The two most
practical suggestions were (I think) Lilith's "Hire a lawyer" and Adrienne's
"Don't risk disclosure." (These are related, for practical purposes, because
she must either disclose or lie -- or refuse to answer ... she's not given
the option of saying "no comment.")
Let me try to drag this down to an even more practical level. Does anyone
(especially anyone in Britain) know WHO HAS ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION? The
forms say nothing about privacy, or even about whether the information will
be given to the Admissions Committee. The answer to Anita's question about
the adequacy of enforcement of nondiscrimination policies might be helpful.
But the student would in fact not even trust the enforcement, because she
believes that there are particular biases about her impairment given the
field she's applying to. (I'm just reporting her views here. I'd be happy to
have a long discussion about how everybody thinks their own impairment is
extra-specially stigmatized, but I'm not about to argue about it with the
student.)
The student is not interested in writing a letter of protest, or leading the
way for others to follow, or possibly even in leaving the boxes blank
(because it would draw attention to herself). IF SHE KNEW that the
information would not be given to the Department that she's applying to,
she'd disclose. (This would be the situation in the U. S.)
So does anyone (i.e. anyone familiar with the British system) know who gets
the disclosed information? Is it sent to the Admissions Committee?
If not, does anyone know a good immigration lawyer? (No, that's a joke.)
Ron
Ron Amundson
University of Hawaii at Hilo
Hilo, HI 96720
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