Disability Equality

The general duty

The Disability Discrimination Act 1995, as amended by the Disability Discrimination Act 2005, places a general duty on public authorities to promote disability equality. The duty came into force on 4 December 2006 and requires public authorities to:

• promote equality of opportunity between disabled persons and other persons

• eliminate unlawful discrimination

• eliminate harassment of disabled persons that is related to their disabilities

• promote positive attitudes towards disabled persons

• encourage participation by disabled persons in public life

• take steps to take account of disabled persons’ disabilities, even where that involves treating disabled people more favourably.

Specific duties

The specific duties relating to policy development and service delivery require public authorities to:

• produce and publish a disability equality scheme (DES) demonstrating how they intend to fulfil their general and specific duties

• involve disabled people in the development of the scheme

• produce an action plan setting out the key actions an authority will take to promote disability equality

• explain the methods they use for assessing the impact of their  policies and practices, or the likely impact of their proposed policies and practices, on equality for disabled persons

• assess and consult on the likely impact of proposed policies on the promotion of disability equality

• monitor policies for any adverse impact on the promotion of disability equality

• publish the results of these assessments, consultation and monitoring

• report annually on the progress of the action plan
  

• review the scheme every three years.

As an employer, the local authority has a specific duty to monitor the effect of its policies and practices on disabled people and in particular, the effect on the recruitment, development and retention of disabled employees.

What impact have we already had on disability equality in our school?

St Patrick’s Catholic Primary School has been blessed with children with a wide range of abilities socially, physically and academically. All pupils have been successfully integrated into school as full and valued members. Strategies have been put into place to support the needs of all children to ensure they can enjoy school and fulfil their potential.

We have made alterations to the building to enhance the disabled access. This includes, refurbishing the disabled toilet, providing a hygiene room, improving markings on gates and steps to support the visually impaired.

What key issues still remain for our school?

We are planning an extension to the main building. We will need to relocate the Hygiene room to ensure we can support the needs of all our children.

Access arrangements

The age of the building does pose some issues that can not be resolved without excessive costs. The school has ensured that there is access to all parts of the building for those in wheelchairs but it recognises that this will mean that external routes will sometimes be used.