In the twenty first century you would hope that we had equality but as a liberation officer for the last 2 years I have realized that equality in education is still a way off. But there is a silver lining in the clouds of inequality because over the next 18 months there is a lot of equality legislation coming into force that should truly put liberation where it deserves to be- at the top of the political, educational and society’s agenda. This includes the age legalization, the disability equality duty, the gender duty and the creation of the commission for equality and human rights. Now is the time for us to get some real wins on equality and as a movement to come together to ensure that liberation and equality is actually embedded into mainstream society.

Disabled people like their non-disabled person peers have the right to continue their education, every Briton needs the chance to get in, get on and go to University. And every student with disabilities has the right to participate in the total student experience. From being able to contribute in the seminar room, to being able to go to the library, get to their student representative that is their right, going to the Union bar or having the same opportunities to be placed as volunteers and get involved. The student movement has a tremendous record in supporting human rights, and let me say this, inclusive education is a human rights issue. Initially, it might sound a bit far fetched to talk about Student Union and their accessibility as a human rights issue, but perhaps not, if one digs deeper and looks at the implications. There is not much sense in enjoying access to education and being denied access to other parts of the student life, after all, one could argue that it is the life experience at institutions which teach us most. Everybody needs access to the more enjoyable aspects of life, restaurants, activities, film, theatre, clubs and the bar.

The struggle to get recognition and equality for students closely mirrors the situation with UK society in general, disabled people have been campaigning for civil liberties legislation for years and students with disabilities have been actively involved in this campaign. We have obtained the first real meaningful disability legislation, with the disabilities discrimination act 1995 which was amended, by a the special education needs and disability act 2001, which includes post 16 education, providers for the first time. Post 16 providers are no longer able to discriminate for any reason related too person's disability, through admissions, inclusion, or by access to education, and associated services. Then in 2003 it became a duty for a post 16 providers to provide auxiliary aids. From 2005 it became necessary to make adjustments to physical features to education buildings in order not to discriminate. Then in 2006 we have the disability equality duty. It was NUS among other organizations that actively campaigned for the disability discrimination bill to get voted through Parliament last year. I think that many M.Ps. thought they were very popular last February when they started to receive lots of Valentine’s card from students across the country, only to discover the cards were actually calling for them to ensure that there was fair and equal access for disabled people and that students wanted their commitment to guarantee that the bill would pass in Parliament. The lobbying and campaigning of the movement succeeded, and the new laws from December 2006 will place a public duty on public bodies to promote disability equality. This will affect all public bodies from local councils, to Government departments. And yes, colleges and universities.

Now at the moment for the SWD campaign the most important piece of legalization is the disability equality duty- click here and here for more information. The disability equality duty or the DED, will cover the public sector to actively promote disability and equality and is similar to the duty to promote race equality under the Race Relations Amendment Act. This is a positive duty, which means disability equality has to be emphasized at the beginning of the process, rather than making adjustments at the end. It will bring about a shift from a legal framework, which relies on individual disabled people complaining about discrimination, to one in which the public sector including yes universities and colleges, will have to become proactive agents of change. The duty will mean colleges and University will have to eliminate disability discrimination, promote equality of opportunity for disabled people, eliminate harassment of disabled people and take account of disabled people's disabilities even if it means treating disabled people more favorably. Colleges and universities will also have to promote positive attitudes towards disabled people, and encourage participation in all areas of public life. The changes in law from December 2006 means that colleges and universities have to involve students with disabilities, while they put the duty together who better to ensure that students with disabilities are properly represented than us in the students movement.

On Friday 17th February we had a very momentous event when NUS, AMSU, Skill and the DRC) came together to debate the duty and the impact that it has on disabled students and how Students’ Unions can ensure that disabled students are participating in the creation of disability equality schemes. This is a first ever event where all 4 organization have come together to ensure that students with disabilities in further and higher education in this country, are represented fairly. The NUS SWD Campaign thinks that the disability equality duty is a real opportunity for students unions to ensure that the disabled students that they represent are getting equality in education. You see the duty has the potential to completely change the way that society regards disability and the way that it is dealt with. The duty embraces the social model of disability and means that all society has to have some responsibility to ensure that disabled people are treated fairly in the UK. Now I will say this if you are a disabled student or an officer at an union and this is the first time that you have ever heard of the disability equality duty then I think that your institution needs to get itself into action because the fundamental underlying principle of the duty is that when an institution is creating a disability equality scheme it must first consult with disabled students and staff. Now can you imagine that? Actually ask disabled people what they want rather than just assuming- who ever would’ve thought of doing that???

Over the last 10 years we have seen massive changes in disability legislation, and access to education, for students with disabilities. But even though there have been so many changes in the last 10 years, students with disabilities are still facing discrimination and barriers to their education, like somebody called Anthony Forshaw Brook, he is a wheelchair user, who at 16 almost didn't get into his college of choice to do an IT course, because the college refused to make the classroom accessible. Surely every student has the right to continue their education, and I wish that Anthony was the in the minority but I know that he is not. Every week I get phone calls from students who are facing discrimination and do not know what to do. This discrimination can take place in a form of physical barriers, or as attitudinal barriers. That is why we must see the disability discrimination act as an opportunity to ensure that the rights of disabled people in this country are finally fulfilled and that the culture of low expectation and disablism that is still so alive in this country is smashed.

40 students and students officers from both FE and HE came together on the day to discuss the duty and what had been happening at their uni or college. It was quite interesting that out of the 40 people there only about 8 had actually heard of the duty through their parent institution. Actually that is a bit worrying and I really hope that other colleges are remembering to consult with disabled students from the start. I have to say though don’t think this is happening because I have seen a couple of disability equality schemes in the last month and whilst they were good the big thing that seemed to be missing was tangible consultation with disabled students. Surely that should be the most important aspect of the duty? It was also interesting to talk about the duty because when I have been speaking to others in the FE & HE sector they have been focusing the duty on academia. Now I do know that the academic side of FE & HE does need so much work when it comes to being inclusive but for the student movement university and college is not just about the academic and I wonder how institutions are going to ensure that the duty not only covers the academic, but also thing like student services, accommodation and admissions.

Representation inclusion, equality and campaigning for change is at the very core of our movement, and this is what this duty is all about. So Student Unions need to get involved, get students with disabilities involved. The duty is a real opportunity for us as a movement, to make sure that students with disabilities have their voices heard and for the students union to represent their students. This is a chance to ensure equality for all students, and to change colleges, universities and education to finally become fully accessible. As student representatives we sit on the board offer governors, the co-operation boards, senate and other such high level Committee's within the institution. The very Committees that should take responsibility for the strategy of the duty. So, I have to ask you this now, if you sit on one of the those high level Committee's, how many of you have actually heard of this duty or had it discussed at the board of governors?

We have a duty in the movement to ask the questions, to ask what is happening with the disability equality duty and to ensure that true representation and involvement takes place. This duty is a responsibility of all of us. This duty gives students union the opportunity to make tokenistic representation into something that will fundamentally change the lives of students. To create an education environment that is inclusive, and to finally get rid of the barriers that still exist in our education system in 21st century. If you want to know more about the duty then please do get in touch.

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