1. Disability Awareness Training
Beth Elkins
Personal Support Manager
Cambridge Regional College
What does disability mean?
Medical model
Social model
What can a disabled person expect from their college?
What types of disabilities affect people in what way?
Invisible disability (and lack of awareness of people to make adjustments)
Sensory disability (as above, really!)
Mental Health (and again!)
Visible disability (and assumptions made around these)
Reasonable adjustments you can make
Attitudes to disability and how to change them!

2. Medical Model of Disability
The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) defines a disabled person as:
“someone who has a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on his or her ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities”.
DDA was slightly amended to include people with cancer, HIV and MS, who are covered from the point of diagnosis rather than from when symptoms begin to adversely affect life

3. Social Model of Disability
Reaction to Medical Model
Systemic Barriers
Negative Attitudes
Exclusion
A person is only dis-abled if society and its functions make them that way.
Body as a machine that needs to be ‘fixed’ to reach a level of normalcy again

4. Types of Disability Invisible Disability Mental Health
People aren't necessarily aware that adjustments need to be made
Mental Health
Interpretation of situations may not always be accurate
Sensory Disability
Effect on communication and understanding
Visible Disability
Assumptions and attitudes of others

5. Attitudes to Disability
Equalities Act places an obligation on providers to promote and advance attitudes to disability
Range from offensive, through ignorant, to inclusive
Make assumptions
Make mistakes

6. Emerging Attitudes to Disability
How can I change this activity to make it more accessible?
Can you come and give us some training?
We’d like to do a project on the VLE to make our vocabulary more accessible to Deaf people
We’re planning a trip; can you give us some advice on accessibility, please?
What can I do to ensure inclusion?

7. Support Strategies
Develop a relationship directly with the student, regardless of whether they have someone there to support them
Encourage the learner to define their support needs and be realistic about what you can provide
Encourage the learner to participate in the review of their support plan
Adjust support accordingly

8. Teaching Strategies
Make your classroom accessible to the learner, regardless of disability
Make use of positive language and avoid language that could offend
If you aren’t sure what works – ask the learner!
Take opportunities to raise awareness of issues faced by people with disabilities to improve societal attitudes

9. "Disability is not a brave struggle or ‘courage in the face of adversity.’ Disability is an art. It’s an ingenious way to live."
Neil Marcus