The Disability Equality Duty: Implications and Opportunities for ICT provision in Higher Education Institutions and Colleges of Further Education

A Scottish Disability Team Guidance Note, published April 2006

This article is available to read online or for download:

Acknowledgements

The Scottish Disability Team would like to thank David Sloan, Digital Medial Access Group (DMAG), who devised and wrote this document. We would also like to thank Andy McMahon, University of Dundee, and Carol Murphy, University of Strathclyde, for their most helpful comments on draft versions of the document and Martin Sloan, Brodies LLP, for his legal advice.

A note on Language: in this document we use the language of "impairment" and "disability" as defined by the social model of disability. It is also the preferred language of the disabled peoples' movement. Whilst people have impairments, e.g. deafness, blindness, muscular dystrophy etc, disability is the outcome of the interaction between a person with an impairment and the environmental and attitudinal barriers s/he may face. The Disability Discrimination Act 2005 (DDA), however, uses the term "disability" to mean what the social model defines as "impairment", so it occurs in this way in this Guide when direct quotations from either the DDA or its associated Codes of Practice are used.

 

Contents

1: Introduction and Overview

In 2005, the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (the DDA) was amended to place a duty, known as the Disability Equality Duty, on public authorities to adopt a proactive approach to ensuring equality for disabled people. Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and FE colleges (colleges) are included amongst the public authorities covered.

This report looks specifically at the impact of the Disability Equality Duty on the provision and use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) by HEIs and Colleges in Scotland. It considers the implications of the Duty on aspects such as accessibility considerations in ICT provision, including strategies and procurement; the impact of ICT decisions on disabled people; and the involvement of disabled people in prioritising ICT decisions.

The report also explores the positive potential of ICT in supporting HEIs/Colleges in meeting their obligations with respect to the Duty. This includes a discussion of how technology can be used to support the increased involvement of disabled people in public life and how technology can support the steps necessary to ensure that HEIs/Colleges promote disability equality in all aspects of ICT provision.

The document is organised as follows:

Who is this Report aimed at?

It is hoped that the information contained in this report will be of particular use to:

It will also be of interest to a wider audience with a general interest in disability equality and ICT. In particular, while the report is aimed at Scottish institutions and colleges, most of the information provided will be of relevance to readers elsewhere in the UK.

Disclaimer

This report presents an interpretation of the Code of Practice (The duty to Promote Disability Equality: Statutory Code of Practice Scotland), and is offered in good faith, but cannot be treated as legally binding advice. Where quotes and examples are taken from the Code, or from other published literature on the Duty, this will clearly be noted; otherwise interpretation must be treated as the opinion of author. Independent legal advice should be sought before any decision is taken in relation to compliance with the DDA.

Terminology

For brevity, in this report, some abbreviations are used:

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