disability will cause difficulty? disability, make impossible, or have a seriously detrimental effect on, the provision by an educational establishment of its services to other students. The wording here is quite strong “impossible or have a seriously detrimental effect” and therefore I feel that it would not be possible to exclude a student from entry merely because it will cause difficulty, whether this is prior to or post-registration. The defence of impossibility or serious detrimental effect to any action brought under the Equal Status Acts 2000 – 2008 is only in relation to individual students and cannot be used to exclude, for example, all students with a specific disability from a particular course of study. Students are asked to provide evidence each time they apply for reasonable accommodation related to their disability, when evidence is on file in Disability Services, is this reasonable? Once a student has disclosed evidence of their disability to the Disability Service, this should be sufficient for the relevant departments which are requested to provide reasonable accommodation. Can students be excluded from rooms based on lack of independent living skills? Section 6(1) of the 2000 Act provides that there shall be no discrimination in providing accommodation or any services or amenities related to accommodation or ceasing to provide accommodation or any such services or amenities. This relates to the provision of accommodation only. Accommodation must not be withheld on the basis of disability but neither must the College take responsibility to support students who are unable to engage in independent living. If assisted living was something that was already being provided by College then the situation would be drastically different. However, in this case the College must only ensure that persons suffering from a disability are given the same access to accommodation as other students with consideration given to the particular disability of any given student. The engagement of Carers to maintain the student once he/she is residing in the accommodation must ultimately fall to the student himself /herself. Is it reasonable for academics to refuse to give notes in advance or to refuse a This falls within the ambit of section 7(2)(b) of the Equal Status Act, 2000 which provides that an educational establishment cannot discriminate in relation to the access of a student to any course, facility or benefit provided by the establishment.
persons who will require that information to organise accommodations, lectures, field trips etc. in such a way so as to prevent harm or distress to any student. If the Disability Service is in possession of relevant information, does it owe a duty of care to other staff and students of the University? As the Disability Service is part of the College I can advise that there would be a sufficiently close relationship between the College and other staff and students and therefore a duty of care would arise. Once the Disability Service has received this information is it then considered that the College has received the information and, thus does the College owe a duty of care to staff and other students? In such an instant once the information has been received by the Disability Service it is presumed to have also been received by the College and in such a case the College would owe a duty of care to staff and other students. If a student with a disability (known to the Disability Service) chooses not to disclose their disability to their school or course, could the Disability Service be held responsible for any damage caused? Yes, the College could be held responsible for any damage caused or injury sustained if they were negligent in not providing safe guards to ensure that any reasonably foreseeable damage or injury was averted in any given circumstance. Would it be acceptable to require students to disclose their disability if, in specific circumstances, it is reasonably expected that they could cause harm to themselves or others? Again the Equal Status Acts 2000 – 2008 are silent on the obligation of persons to disclose their disability. However taking the duty of care owed by the College to staff members and other students I believe it is reasonable to require all students on professional courses where there are clinical or other placements to disclose the existence of any disability that may pose a risk to the student in question or any other person. Is different Section 14 of the Equal Status Act 2000 provides that it is
the following: Re-schedule the exams within the annual examination period: When there are two 3 hour exams on the same day for some students with a physical, sensory or medical disability and they may be taking medication and require additional time or rest breaks. When essential medical treatment is required or to allow for recovery from medical treatment. Split exams between annual and supplemental sittings: When preparation for or the sitting of exams have been significantly interrupted by the nature of the disability and when the situation may not have changed in time for the supplemental examination period. When the workload is considered too great for the student with a disability to take on and be fairly assessed in comparison with their peers. Some students face up to 11 exams of 3 hours duration. In Junior & Senior Sophister years where there are no supplemental examinations: Students may be permitted to defer one or more of their exams to the supplemental period and sit those exams as a first sitting. This is a reasonable accommodation in circumstances where the nature of the disability affects the student completing the annual examinations. As for the reasons given above, students with a disability can be permitted to sit their annual exams during the supplemental examination period as a first sitting with no option of repeating the exams. I can say that all seems to be fair and reasonable given the requirements of the legislation except for the provision that students with a disability can be permitted to sit their annual exams during the supplemental examination period as a first sitting with no option of repeating the exams. I would advise that a repeat examination should be accommodated if necessary; otherwise this could be viewed as discriminatory treatment.