Whilst having a mental health problem can make it difficult to carry on with normal daily life, it is important that students are not put in a position whereby they have to give up on academic life too quickly. Many problems can be resolved, or the effects can be minimised to the point where study can be resumed.
Some students may need to take time out until they are feeling more in control, others may need to reduce their workload to make things more manageable, whereas some may be able to continue with their studies throughout.
Whether a student has developed a mental health problem for the first time, or has a previously acquired condition, they should expect:
- To have access medical treatment if required
- Their educational institution to honour its duties to them by making reasonable adjustments in order to take into account the nature of their problems
- Not to be discriminated against on the basis of their disability
The information given here does not constitute legal advice, but is intended to raise some of the issues which need to be considered by students, staff and institutions.
Disability discrimination legislation
Disability Discrimination Act (1995)
In 1995 the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) made it unlawful to discriminate against disabled people in the areas of employment and in the provision of goods and services. In September 2002, the Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001 (SENDA) extended the DDA to include education. As a result, all higher and further education institutions and post-16 education providers now have a legal responsibility to students with disabilities.
Under Part IV of the DDA (or SENDA):
- An education institution should not treat a disabled person 'less favourably' for a reason relating to their disability.
- An institution is required to make 'reasonable adjustments' if a disabled person would otherwise be placed at a 'substantial disadvantage'.
- Adjustments should be 'anticipatory'.
- The legislation applies to all admissions, enrolments and other 'student services' which includes assessment and teaching materials.
What does this mean for educational institutions?
Eeducational institutions are required to take steps to ensure that 'reasonable adjustments' are made for disabled students. Making 'adjustments' will mean that if a person is at a 'substantial disadvantage', the education provider is required to take reasonable steps to alleviate that disadvantage. This might include:
- changing admissions, administrative and examination procedures
- allowing part time study
- making changes to the curriculum
- changing teaching arrangements
- making physical changes to buildings
- providing information in alternative formats
Some examples of reasonable adjustments can be found in the Post-16 Code of Practice for providing services for students with disabilities.
The code was designed to help institutions ensure disabled students accessed a learning experience that is comparable with that of their peers.
A student with depression is on a training course at a further education college. She spends part of the week in a hairdressing salon. Work placements are usually arranged on the basis of a full working day. However, because of the effects of her medication she is unable to attend in the mornings. A reasonable adjustment might be for the college to arrange for this student's work placement to take place in the afternoons only.
A student with mental health problems has to attend a month's work experience placement as part of his college course. The usual college procedure is for students to go independently to their work placement but this student is very anxious about how HE will cope. A likely reasonable adjustment would be for his tutor to arrange to accompany him on the first day and then to telephone him at regular intervals.
According to the Post-16 Code of Practice determining how far an adjustment is 'reasonable' will be based on the substantial disadvantage to the disabled person versus institutional factors such as:
- cost in relation to available resources
- health and safety issues
- the maintenance of academic standards
- the effect on other students
An example of what could be considered an unreasonable adjustment from the Post-16 Code of Practice is as follows:
A young man with moderate learning difficulties applies to study for an English A level. HE has poor literacy skills and the college does not have sufficient evidence that HE could sustain the reading and writing necessary to complete the course. It is unlikely to be reasonable to expect the college to adjust its entry requirements to accommodate the student.
Educational institutions are expected to be proactive as opposed to reactive when considering and implementing adjustments. The Disability Rights Commission 2002 Code of Practice states that:
Responsible bodies should not wait until a disabled person applies to a course or tries to use a Service before thinking about what reasonable adjustments they could make. Instead they should continually be anticipating the requirements of disabled people or students and the adjustments they could be making for them, such as regular staff development and reviews of practice. Failure to anticipate the need for an adjustment may mean it is too late to comply with the duty to make the adjustment when it is required. Lack of notice would not of itself provide a defence to an allegation that an adjustment should have been made.
Disability Rights Commission 2002 Code of Practice - Special Educational Needs and Disability Act
Disability Equality Duty
In addition to the DDA, the Disability Equality Duty (DED) came into force on 4 December 2006. This new legal duty requires all public authorities, including HEIs and FEs, to actively look at ways of ensuring that disabled people are treated equally, by requiring they promote and embed disability equality across all aspects of the their policy, procedures and practices.
In carrying out its functions, every public authority is to have due regard to:
- The need to eliminate discrimination that is unlawful under the DDA
- The need to eliminate harassment of disabled people that is related to their disabilities
- The need to promote equality of opportunity between disabled people and non-disabled people
- The need to take steps to take account of disabled people's disabilities, even where that involves treating disabled people more favourably than other people
- The need to promote positive attitudes towards disabled people
- The need to encourage participation by disabled people in public life
In addition, certain public bodies, including HEIs, are required to publish and implement a Disability Equality Scheme to help them to meet the general duty. In drawing up a Disability Equality Scheme organisations are required to:
- involve disabled people
- set out their arrangements for gathering and using information
- set out their method for carrying out impact assessments
- produce an action plan
- report annually on progress made
- review and revise the Scheme every three yearsNew DDA duties for General Qualifications Bodies
Equality Act 2010
From 1 October 2010, the Equality Act replaced most of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA). However, the Disability Equality Duty in the DDA continues to apply.The Equality Act 2010 aims to protect disabled people and prevent disability discrimination. It provides legal rights for disabled people in the areas of employment, education, access to goods, services and facilities including larger private clubs and land based transport services, buying and renting land or property, functions of public bodies, for example the issuing of licences. The Equality Act also provides rights for people not to be directly discriminated against or harassed because they have an association with a disabled person. This can apply to a carer or parent of a disabled person. In addition, people must not be directly discriminated against or harassed because they are wrongly perceived to be disabled.
Further Resources
For further resources relating to disability and mental health legislation click on the link.