The Equality Act 2010 places a legal obligation on FE and HE institutions to not discriminate against staff, learners and other users and visitors to the institution because of a disability.
The Act brings under one umbrella various anti-discrimination laws, including those relating to disability, age, sexual orientation, equal pay, race and religion. The provisions on disability replace the previous Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and its later amendments.
To ensure compliance with the Equality Act:
- Institutions must not discriminate against learners with disabilities in their provision of education services (including delivery of teaching, admissions process and student services).
- Similarly, institutions must not discriminate against employees or third parties to whom they provide other non-educational services,for example, conference hosting or vacation accommodation letting.
- Institutions must ensure that information is accessible to those users with a disability.
- Institutions must make reasonable adjustments to accommodate the needs of disabled persons.
- Institutions need to have in place systems to comply with the general Public Sector Equality Duty introduced by the Act.
- Institutions will need to comply with specific public sector Equality Duties when the legislation detailing these requirements comes into force later in 2011.
- Staff in all areas of the institution should be made aware of their obligations under the Act to promote and aid accessibility for all wherever possible.
The law is framed in general terms and is not intended to prevent or place barriers in the way of innovative use of technology. It reinforces the expectation and requirement that FE and HE institutions should be anticipatory and proactive in encouraging disabled persons to participate in tertiary education activities. As technology develops the learning tools used may change but there is still the same requirement for accessibility.
Further information on the obligations under the Equality Act is available from the Equality Challenge Unit and JISC Legal's dedicated Accessibility Law page.
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