• SENDA was an amendment to the Disability Discrimination Act (1995), designed to bring education within the remit of the DDA. This is known as DDA Part 4.
  • SENDA requires large institutions like universities to make “reasonable adjustments” to ensure that disabled students can engage with their studies in the same way as their peers. It also requires universities like Queen Mary to anticipate the needs of disabled people, rather than to react to them once they have become apparent. For example, having course handouts available electronically can help blind students access them and this should be the rule rather than the exception.
  • Similar legislation has been in force in Australia since 1993. The experience there has been that rather than physical access, teaching and learning has been the cause of most litigation.
  • "The majority of case law has related to teaching and learning issues, either through direct discrimination regarding access to a course (or modules) or the inability to provide materials in alternative format in a timely manner which invariably has led to students having to defer their studies.”
Last modified: Tuesday, 31 July 2012, 11:55 AM