Disability Impact Assessments, A Brief Guide - Index : Scottish Disability Team

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NB This is the second page of the online version of the SDT Guidance Note Disability Impact Assessments: A Brief Guide, published in December 2005.

2: What is an Impact Assessment?

An impact assessment is a method by which organisations can examine their activities and services to ensure there is no potential for discrimination against a particular group, for example, black and minority ethnic people, women or in this case, disabled people.

The aim of impact assessment is to examine policies and practice in a structured way to make sure that disproportionately adverse effects on particular groups are avoided. It is also a tool to enable organisations to assess what positive action they can take to promote equality of opportunity and to anticipate the requirements of all of their service users and staff. Positive outcomes of interventions to address inequalities should also be measured.

In an HE/FE setting, it is important to recognise that impact assessments are as relevant to areas such as teaching practices and course design as they are to policies and procedures at an institutional level.

When should Impact Assessments be conducted?

An impact assessment should be conducted when developing a new policy, practice or provision or when revising an existing one.

To comply with the new legislation, HEIs and Colleges will be required to conduct a review of all current policies and practices in order to formally assess the impact of these on disabled people. The timescale for doing this will need to be set out in the action plan for the Disability Equality Scheme.

What are Policies, Practices, Provisions and Criteria?

The Guide to Impact Assessments produced by the Equality Challenge Unit (ECU, 2004), provides useful definitions of policies, practices, provisions and criteria:

"A policy is any decision, principle, plan or set of procedures that influences and determines the way an institution carries out its business (externally or internally)". Examples would include policies on Admission of students or Recruitment and Selection of staff.
"A practice is more informal than a policy and refers to a customary way of operation or behaviour, perhaps built up over a number of years. It can be identified through being routinely performed, locally, regardless of any official requirements in policy". Examples would include the way teaching or practical work is carried out in a particular subject or the way complaints are dealt with.
"A provision is an action which serves to provide for, or meet the requirements or particular needs of people". Examples would include Library or Accommodation provision.
"A criterion is the basis by which comparisons or judgements are made, often against particular reference points." Examples would include the way assessments of students are conducted or decisions made about admission of students or recruitment of staff.

Involvement of Disabled People

One of the most significant elements of the new legislation is its emphasis on involvement of disabled people at all stages. This will include disabled staff, disabled students, other disabled people and disability organisations. References to disabled people in this document should be taken to mean all of these groups. This involvement must:

be at an early stage;
be influential and meaningful;
be focussed;
cover relevant stakeholders;
use accessible mechanisms;
be proportionate.

and will apply at all stages of the impact assessment process.

Document Navigation:

Next page - 3: Mapping policies and practices.

Previous page - 1: Introduction.