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Delivering equality for disabled people
A NIACE response to the Department for Works and Pensions consultation on
the duty to promote equality.
Published: October 2004
NIACE welcomes these proposals to create a public sector duty to promote disability equality.
We believe that despite the Disability Discrimination Act it is right to continue to identify ways in which people with disabilities can achieve equality. We are pleased to note that the Disability Rights Commission will be taking a lead role in developing and producing guidance.
NIACE has considered the implications of this consultation document from the viewpoint of an organisation that promotes adult learning.
Question seven: The Government would welcome views on the most effective ways for public bodies to involve disabled people.
Our experience of working with both learners and providers of adult education has shown us that it is vital that the learner, in this case those who are disabled or have disabling conditions should be central to the consultation and decision making processes. It is equally important that this involvement should be both effective and meaningful and not simply tokenistic. Forthcoming publications from a LSDA, NIACE and Skill partnership will outline the ways in which effective involvement of learners with disabilities has been achieved.
Question one: In order to assist the Disability Rights Commission to produce the most helpful guidance on the extension of the DDA to public functions, the Government would welcome views on the issues and advice the guidance should cover.
Following from question seven, we would suggest that any guidance recommends that disabled people are involved in interpreting and implementing the extended DDA duties. Our work and contacts have shown that adult education providers, have found the perspective of learners with disabilities invaluable in helping them to understand the real experience, and to then translate this into making meaningful reasonable adjustments.
NIACE has consulted learners who have revealed that services offered to them have been inappropriate and not met their needs. Our work on transport, for example, showed that adult learners were highly dissatisfied with the transport arrangements made for them. Some learners were spending many hours in a mini bus to complete very short journeys; others were delivered too late or picked up too early, thus disrupting their learning time. Those we consulted, who could use public transport felt anxious because the journey information was so poor. We have recognised that improved collaboration between agencies could improve the access that adults with disabilities have to both, in this case, transport and education.
We are therefore particularly interested to note that the report also recognises the value of partnership or collaborative working. We feel that this is particularly pertinent in the adult learning sectors to ensure that adults with disabilities experience improved education opportunities, through working with other providers of; education and training, advice and guidance, transport, health and social care.
Question three: The Government would welcome views on our proposals for specific duties, and in particular: whether the bureaucratic burden could be reduced
and
Question twelve: The Government would welcome views on its proposals for monitoring arrangements. In particular, do these proposals place a proportionate requirement on public bodies while maintaining the necessary flexibility?
We understand the importance of monitoring, however, we are concerned that this could become a bureaucratic nightmare. Evidence from learning providers and learners themselves indicate that the current methods for monitoring disability are largely ineffective. People with disabilities or disabling conditions are often reluctant to disclose a disability if they see little reason for it, and if they are concerned that the disclosure may lead to discrimination. The LSDA in partnership with NIACE and Skill have run an action research development project that explores disclosure ( www.lsda.org.uk ), there is also LSC guidance on ‘Disclosure, confidentiality and passing on information’ (LSC, October 2003) that addresses the main issues.
NIACE would urge the DWP to be mindful that most educational providers are already required under the DDA part 4 to ensure that their provision is accessible, that learners with disabilities are not discriminated against, that they anticipate the needs of learners and make reasonable adjustments for them. We would hope that in the early stages of implementation that the government works with and builds on the practice that exists, thus reducing extra bureaucratic burdens.
We would advise the DWP to take account of not only the bureaucratic burden of monitoring disability but also the ways in which this is done, remembering that paper based approaches are not accessible to all disabled people.
Conclusion
In conclusion, NIACE welcomes the principle of this document, and agree that it will ensure that public bodies take better account of disabled people and make it possible to challenge discrimination.
Reference
LSC (2003) ‘Disclosure, confidentiality and passing on information’, Coventry, LSC
Further details
If you would like further details or information about this response please contact:
Dr Christine Nightingale
Development Officer - Learning and Health
NIACE
21 De Montfort Street
Leicester
LE1 7GE
christine.nightingale@niace.org.uk
0116 2047084
