Student Disability Policy
1. Aims and objectives
The aim of this policy is:
To embed a culture of inclusion for students with
disabilities.
The College works with the Equality Act’s (2010) definition of a
disabled person: ‘A person has a disability if they have a physical
or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term adverse
effect on his or her ability to carry out normal day-to-day
activities.’
The objectives of this policy are:
- To commit to having an inclusive
environment, which facilitates disclosure of disability and gives
all applicants and students the opportunity to demonstrate and
realise their full potential;
- To provide fair and equal treatment of all
applicants and students;
- To comply with the legislative requirements
under the Equality Act (2010), in particular the need to
avoid discrimination and to provide reasonable adjustments for
disabled students;
- To comply with the precepts in section 3 of
the Quality Assurance Agency’s Code of Practice for the Assurance
of Academic Quality and Standards in Higher Education for students
with disabilities, to ensure that the learning experience of a
disabled student is comparable to that of their peers.
2. Policy statement
Regent's College will ensure:
- That the requirements of those students who
disclose a disability are assessed on an individual
basis;
- That all discussions and information
regarding a disability or specific learning difficulty are treated
in a confidential manner and abide by the College’s confidentiality
policy;
- In the case of non-standard adjustments for
disabled students, the Programme Directors will be involved in any
discussions regarding adjustments to ensure that academic rigour is
maintained and that the necessary resources are available.
All staff and students at Regent's College are expected to be
responsible for implementing this policy.
3. Procedure
A disabled student is encouraged to disclose their disability at
an early stage, such as application or enrolment. Information on
disability disclosure procedure is available on the College’s
website. The Disability Officer aims to make contact with any
student who has disclosed a disability, giving them the opportunity
to make an appointment to discuss any support needs. A disabled
student is usually required to provide written evidence of their
disability (such as an educational psychologist’s report) if they
are requesting any reasonable adjustments.
If adjustments are agreed, a Student Support Agreement will be
completed. With the student’s formal consent, this will be
distributed to relevant staff only, in order to ensure that any
necessary adjustments are put in place.
4. Measurement of
policy’s success
Feedback from disabled students will be sought by the College
and passed on to the Disability Officer. Any student complaints
that relate to disability issues should be directed to the
Disability Officer, either on an individual basis or via the
Disability Services Committee. The measures of success for this
policy will be a decrease in the number of complaints regarding
disability matters, as well as an increase in the amount of
positive feedback received from one year to the next.
The Disability Officer will liaise with individual students in
order to review the success of adjustments agreed in Student
Support Agreements. Review will take place at a minimum on an
annual basis.
5. Monitoring of the policy
The Disability Officer will collate feedback received from
disabled students, in order to monitor the effectiveness of the
policy, and will report findings to the Disability Services
Committee.
6. Review of the policy
The policy will be reviewed on an annual basis at the Disability
Services Committee, where any amendments or improvements will be
discussed.
Policy updated June 2011 by Regent's
College's Disability Services Committee.
Page last updated 6/21/2011