Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 2005
The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 2005 amends the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and introduces a new statutory duty on public bodies, including schools and local authorities, to promote equality of opportunity for those with a disability.
A person has a disability "if he or she has a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long term adverse effect on his or her ability to carry out normal day to day activities". This is a very broad definition. If these criteria are met, those who will come under the definition of disability include those with learning difficulties, physical difficulties, sensory impairment, mental health problems, conditions such as diabetes and epilepsy and those with a behaviour difficulty that relates to an underlying condition (for example, a child diagnosed as ADHD). Even if medical conditions are well controlled with medication, when deciding whether or not a person is disabled, it is important to consider what the person would be like without the treatment.
A report from the Cabinet Office, 2005, estimates that approximately 772,000 children in the UK have a disability, which is seven percent of children. This is more than double the number of children who have a statement of SEN (250,000). Not all children with a statement of SEN would be classified as having a disability, but there is a very significant overlap.
One of the key requirements of the new Disability Equality Duty (DED) is for schools to produce a disability equality scheme, which should outline their strategy for 'actively promoting' disability equality among pupils, parents and employees. These schemes must include an action plan which covers a three-year period.
Your Disability Equality Scheme must cover the following areas:
- your school's approach to promoting equal opportunities for disabled children
- how your school promotes positive images of disabled people
- the ways in which you have consulted and involved disabled people in the development of your scheme
- your arrangements for gathering information about the opportunities and achievements of disabled pupils and staff. You will need to show that you have put in place arrangements to monitor the achievements of disabled pupils as a distinct group
- a three-year action plan, identifying targets and areas where improvements are required
Useful websites:
Disability Equality in Education
Website for organisation that provides training courses and
curriculum materials for promoting disability equality.
Disability Rights Commission
Works to ensure that everyone has a fair chance to particpate
in society.
Ealing HELP
This site has been designed for the parents/carers of
children with disabilities in Ealing. Its main purpose is to
provide information on the services available to you and to enable
you to share ideas and seek advice through the discussion area.
Office
of Public Sector Information
Provides a wide range of services relating to finding, using,
sharing and trading information.
