Lawrie Phipps, TechDis Legislation, Disabilities and Education Web Sites

Introduction TechDis - who we are and what we do SENDA – what it means for education web sites

TechDis Joint Information Systems Committee – JISC Technologies Centre Mission: Enhancing access for Disabled students and staff and students with learning learning difficulties learning, teaching, research and administration across further and higher education through the use of Information and Communication Technologies. Remit: Technology and disabilities

TechDis Projects: VLE accessibility: 2 stages VLE usability Wireless networking issues for Deaf & Hearing Impaired students PDA accessibility ICT for students with learning difficulties (new project) Tools for web development Advice Staff development Databases

TechDis Projects Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) and Accessibility Collating the corporate position of VLE vendors toward accessibility Examined the VLEs involved in JISC Interoperability Projects Paper will be available in June and act as prelude to another TechDis project “VLE Usability” The project established TechDis dialogue with all major vendors

TechDis Projects Virtual Learning Environment Usability Based at the RNCB, Shirley Evans Looking at how students with disabilities use VLEs, e.g. how long does it take a student to take an online computer based test Builds on the Neilson/Norman research which demonstrated that ‘non-educational’ web users, using screen readers took 6 times longer to accomplish tasks, and screen magnifier users 3 times longer than users not using assitive technology The report will be used as a basis for a TechDis special interest group to establish a set of guidance notes for academic staff using online learning

TechDis Projects Tools to Support Web Developers and Learning Technologists in Education Being undertaken by the Internet Research Group at the University of Plymouth An initial trawl of as identified ~30 web evaluation tools, ~10 repair tools, ~20 filter and transformation tools Tools will be mapped against TechDis criteria that are most likely to comply with SENDA Two matrices will be produced: the first will show how the tools perform to those criteria, e.g. does Bobby approved mean legislation compliant, the second will show how usable the tools are The report will be released in October and a series of free workshops will also be given

Legislation SENDA – Special Educational Needs and Disability Act Amends the Disability Discrimination Act Brings education (previously excluded) into the Act In force from September 2002 with the following exceptions: Auxiliary Services (e.g. induction loop systems) – Sept 2003 Changes to Buildings – Sept 2005

Legislation Learning Technology e.g. CAA, VLEs, websites etc. will be affected from September 2002 Two key phrases

Less Favourable Treatment...not to treat disabled students less favourably, without justification, for a reason which relates to their disability

A student who is a wheelchair user is treated rudely by a member of computing service. The staff member is rude to everybody that day; his bad treatment of the disabled student is not related to the student’s disability. The disabled student has not been treated less favourably than other students.

Reasonable Adjustment to make reasonable adjustments to ensure that people who are disabled are not put at a substantial disadvantage compared to people who are not disabled in accessing further, higher and Local Education Authority-secured education.

A partially deaf student who lip reads is attending a Business Studies course. One of her lecturers continues to lecture while simultaneously writing on the whiteboard. The student asks him to stop speaking when he turns his back to use the whiteboard so that she can follow what he is saying. The student is likely to be at a substantial disadvantage if this adjustment is not made.

Legal Opinion: Maguire v SOCOG A visually impaired Australian, took a legal action under the Commonwealth Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth DDA), which the UK Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA) broadly mirrors. Mr Maguire argued that the organisers of the Sydney Olympics were in breach of their obligations under the Cth DDA by providing a Web site which was inaccessible. Rejecting SOCOG’s defence that unjustifiable financial hardship would be incurred in making the site accessible, the Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission (HREOC) held that as a service provider SOCOG did have a duty to provide an accessible Web site and not discriminate against the disabled. In doing so, reference was made to the W3C’s WAI guidelines as a technical benchmark that SOCOG should have followed and which could be used to measure Web accessibility.

Legal Opinion Maguire v SOCOG Australian case law is not binding in the UK but: In cases that are unconsidered and undecided, it can be considered persuasive, hence: Maguire v SOCOG will probably be used in any legal action Legal Advice Suggests: W3C priority 2 Bobby Approved is not compliant

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