Disability and students

Information on Disability

The School has made considerable progress towards increasing accessibility in its widest sense, making reasonable adjustments to systems and services when required and anticipating changes which need to be made to avoid unnecessary barriers to inclusion.

The Disability Discrimination Act, Part IV, 2001 and the amended Disability Discrimination Act, 2005, placed new roles and responsibilities on higher education institutions to work towards disability equality for students, staff and visitors with disabilities. The DDA applies to any service provided by LSE which is ‘wholly or mainly for students’ and is a continuing and anticipatory duty: ie we have to keep arrangements under review and anticipate changes in the light of experience and, for instance, advances in technology.

Individual Student Support Agreements (ISSA)

Students who disclose a disability or dyslexia during the admissions process are invited by the advisers to students with disabilities/dyslexia to draft an Individual Student Support Agreement (ISSA) to record the reasonable adjustments which need to be put in place for that student to access a programme of study, including applications for special exam arrangements.

A ‘reasonable adjustment’ is any action that helps alleviate a substantial disadvantage and might involve any of the following:

• Changing LSE’s policies and procedures
• Modifying delivery of teaching
• Providing additional services such as enlarged papers or a sign language interpreter
• Specific staff training
• Adjustments to the physical environment

Some examples of reasonable adjustments:

• Library Additional Services. This is a two level service of extra facilities and easier access within the library, including subsidised photocopying and printing
   
• Special exam arrangements when recommended by medical or educational psychology documentation and approved by the Special Exam Panel
   
• Access to two rest rooms with beds and an IT/dyslexia study room
   
• Timetable and room changes for mobility and fatigue related issues;
   
• Accommodation: consideration of hall places for continuing students, places in nearby or adapted accommodation, etc;
   
• Arrange individual support (study related) either through peer group support in LSE Circles Network or other students and CSV (community service volunteer) for note taking, reading to visually impaired students, etc
   
• Alternative consultation arrangements for office hours and visiting professionals, due to inaccessibility of building
   
• Permission for tape recording of lectures
   
• Use of alternative resources: writing slopes, ergonomic chairs etc
   
• Flexibility over academic deadlines
   
• Material in alternative formats and in advance, if required
   
• Assistive technology: eg. screenreaders, CCTV and voice activated software.

Good Practice: some examples

• One department provided transcripts of video films without subtitles, for a student with a hearing impairment
   
• The School allocated an on-site parking space for the use of a student dependent on her car for travel to School after dialysis sessions
   
• Accommodation agreed to a change of Hall to one with suitable catering facilities for a student with OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder);
   
• The Students’ Union agreed to abandon use of strobe lighting so that a student with epilepsy could continue to attend Friday Crush events;
   
• Security bought a stair climbing wheelchair to enable a student to fully participate in the graduation ceremony and aid egress from basements.

With the explicit permission of the student, an ISSA is circulated to those colleagues who need to know, in order to make adjustments discreetly, but there will be situations where this information is sensitive and the student requests anonymity or complete confidentiality. Feedback from departments on the efficacy of the ISSA are welcome and useful.

Disclosure and Confidentiality

When students choose to disclose information about a disability, long-term medical condition, dyslexia or mental health concern to a member of staff during the course of their studies, they should be strongly advised to contact the Disability and Well-being Office, so that all necessary adjustments can be discussed, agreed and put in place through an ISSA, unless they are requesting confidentiality, in the knowledge that that might mean adequate, alternative adjustments cannot be made.

There is a pro-forma available with a flow diagram, in the Disability Equality Reference Folder (DERF), for use by any member of staff, to record this information and return it to the Disability and Well-being Office.

The role of the Disability and Well-being Office (TLC)

As part of the Teaching and Learning Centre, we are often the first point of contact and co-ordinate the School’s service to students with disabilities/dyslexia, drafting ISSAs and liaising with all sections of the School, SU Advice Centre, SU Education and Welfare and the SU Disability Officer and out-side agencies.

Please see the Disability & Well-being Office website for further information for students and staff, relating to School systems and specific areas of disability.

Direct, practical support for disabled students is provided by a combination of peer group support from students who join LSE Circles Network, and a Community Service Volunteer. Current disability-related information, with copies of leaflets and the disclosure / confidentiality pro-forma is provided in the purple ring binder: Disability Equality Reference Folder (DERF)

We are able to advise and support UK students who are applying for funding through the Disabled Student Allowance, administered by LEAs and ESRC. We can also help non-UK students apply to the Students’ Union’s disabled student fund and the Financial Support Office.

Dyslexia Support Service

Linda Kelland is the specialist adviser to students with dyslexia, dyspraxia and other specific learning difficulties (0.5) and is available to advise and arrange support for students who know they are dyslexic, and to talk to staff about the impact and nature of specific learning difficulties. Initial screening for dyslexia is offered to students concerned about underlying learning difficulties and subsequent referral to an educational psychologist for a full formal assessment can be arranged. Individual tutorials are arranged with specialist tutors, with further support provided by LSE Circles Network and the Teaching and Learning Centre.

Mental Health and Well-being Adviser

Jane Sedgwick is a trained and experienced community psychiatric nurse who acts as the main point of contact for students with mental health issues and for staff concerned about students. The Health and Well-being policy is going through committees this year and has practical and procedural advice for departmental and Hall staff. She works closely with the counselling service, St Phillip’s Medical Centre, Residences and Accommodation, and Community mental Health Teams.

LSE’s Disability Equality Scheme

A specific duty of the DDA, 2005, is to require HEIs to have in place a Disability Equality Scheme by December, 2006, revised every three years with an annual report which outlines how the institution is addressing the general duties. There must be evidence of how disabled people have participated in the planning process and what progress we are making towards the targets we have set. There has to be a rolling programme of assessing the impact on disabled people of all existing and future policies and procedures. LSE’s Disability Equality Scheme (PDF) includes a detailed action plan. 

In addressing these duties, there are three basic steps for Departments:

1. Training and Awareness Raising: Check how many staff feel confident that they are disability aware and feel they know enough about how the School systems impact on students with disabilities, long-term medical conditions and dyslexia. Where there is a deficit – arrange training opportunities. There is an on-going programme of disability training throughout the year, organised by both T&L Centre and the Staff Development Unit and we are available to attend Departmental meetings on request. We have a Speakers’ Bureau of LSE students with disabilities able to talk from their experience of studying at LSE.
    
2. Monitoring: Departments should include consideration of access and disability issues as a regular item on agendas, and in all planning, particularly in preparation for TLAC and APRC reviews and including funding implications.
    
3. Responding and anticipating needs, listen to disabled students and staff to agree policies and work pro-actively with ISSAs, for instance:
    
   1. on tape recording of lectures, with a permission slip, if necessary or in collaboration with CLT
   2. agreeing to always put lecture notes and outlines on public folders in advance.
   3. consider appointing a student to act as official note-taker in lectures and classes – this would be a very pro-active step which would help many students
   4. produce reading lists with guidance on priority
   5. Making sure disabled colleagues know about the ‘Access to Work Fund’ and other support available (see Gail Keeley)

Please, do contact us at any time to discuss any disability related issues – general or student specific: very few situations seem to fit neatly into our anticipated scenarios, and talking through the options together seems to be the best way of reaching a reasonable and creative solution. Here is the policy statement which underpins this area of School life:

School’s Policy on Disability

The London School of Economics and Political Science is committed to complying with the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA) and the Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001 (SENDA) by:

• Maximising accessibility to the School’s services and activities for staff, students, alumni, visitors, and prospective staff and students with disabilities, and to ensure that no-one is treated less favourably on the ground of disability.
   
• Developing a culture of inclusion and diversity in which people feel free to disclose a disability, should they wish to do so, and to discuss reasonable adjustments in order to promote equal participation in the School’s services and activities. In adherence to the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA 1998), such information shall be passed on only with consent and where there is a legitimate reason to do so.
   
• Reviewing, monitoring and revising, as appropriate, all School systems, procedures, facilities, services and buildings in compliance with the DDA and SENDA in addition to the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA), which includes the right not be denied access to education.
   
• Creating, maintaining and disseminating information about services, support and facilities available for staff, students, alumni, visitors and prospective staff and students with disabilities.
   
• For the purpose of this policy, the term “disability” has the same meaning as that given in the DDA and SENDA:
  
  ‘a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on your ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities’
  
  In recognition of evolving case law, this includes, but is not limited to: sensory impairments, learning disabilities, mental illness, clinically recognised severe disfigurements, cancer, HIV/Aids, progressive conditions even at an early stage, conditions which are characterised by a number of cumulative effects such as pain or fatigue and a past history of disability.

This policy was agreed by Council 25th June 2002

For more information about the Disability and Well-being Office, please visit the Disability Website or telephone 0207 955 7767

Jean Jameson, Adviser to students with disabilities/dyslexia
Sue Haines, Disability and Well-being Office manager
Jane Sedgwick, Mental Health and Well-being adviser
Linda Kelland, Adviser to students with dyslexia/dyspraxia

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