Supporting Students with Disabilities Series: An Introduction; Disability Legislation Update

The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 1995 and amendments such as SENDA require teaching and learning to be made accessible to all, regardless of disability or impairment. In 2005 and 2006, amendments to this Act have changed the legal requirements for Universities (and others). As a result, Universities have a greater obligation to an increased range of students with respect to their disabilities. For some years MSOR Connections has included a series of articles called “DDA Update”. The following article, which aims to give an idea of the recent amendments to the DDA 1995, is designed to round off the DDA Update series and herald a new series of articles with an explicit focus on supporting students with disabilities. The aim of this series of articles is to explore what institutions and individuals are doing to support students with disabilities in MSOR. This need not be related to the legislation (it is certainly the case that the legal requirement for supporting students with disabilities is not the prime motivator for some people). This sharing of good practice within the community will benefit greatly students with disabilities and, in turn, all students….