Disabled student wins landmark victory
A young disabled student has won a landmark ruling that will allow him to go to the college of his choice.
16-year-old Anthony Ford-Shubrook has successfully sought an injunction against St. Dominic’s Sixth Form College in Harrow which refused to admit him because his hi-tech wheelchair might pose a hazard to other pupils.
The Disability Rights Commission, which supported the teenager, claims that the case has highlighted the discrimination that still occurs within the school system despite legislation that was introduced last year.
Under amendments to the Disability Discrimination Act schools are legally obliged to offer young people with disabilities the same opportunities as other pupils.
This is the first time that an injunction under the new legislation has been used to make a college accept a disabled student.
St. Dominic’s is the closest college to Anthony’s home and the only college that offers the A-Level subjects that he wants to study.
Anthony, who has seven GCSEs, is able to access most of the school apart from the IT room. His parents suggested using a ‘climbing wheelchair’ to get up the steps, but the college claimed that this would constitute a health and safety risk.
Liz Sayce of the DRC noted that many colleges and schools were unaware of the exact implications of the new legislation. She also noted that it was often a case of providers “seeing the problem, rather than seeing the solution”.
The new legislation will place further obligations on schools from the start of this academic year. They will have to provide induction loops for pupils with hearing difficulties, and large-print materials for the visually impaired.
And from 2005 schools and colleges will have to ensure that their buildings are accessible to wheelchairs where ‘reasonable’.
Ms. Sayce added: “Colleges and universities must be aware that barring a disabled person on the grounds of their disability is discrimination. Health and safety excuses without a proper risk assessment are not acceptable – they put disabled peoples’ futures at risk.”
According to the DRC young people with disabilities are only half as likely to go to university as non-disabled people.
