20 | ACCESSIBILITY PL ANNING | LEGAL ADVICE
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All schools are required to have a three-year accessibility plan in place to ensure that the needs of pupils with disabilities are met. Tracey Eldridge-Hinmers looks at what such a plan should include.
T
he Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001 (SENDA) required schools to produce
accessibility plans every three years. This duty is replicated in the Equality Act 2010. In line with the regulatory framework, current accessibility plans should be in place for the three-year period April 2012-March 2015. Any new school is required to have an accessibility plan in place no later than one month after opening. An accessibility plan is required
to contain strategies for: ✥ Increasing the extent to which disabled pupils can participate in the curriculum
✥ Improving the physical environment of the school to increase the extent to which disabled pupils can take advantage of education and benefits, facilities or services offered or provided by the school ✥ Improving the delivery to disabled pupils of information which is readily accessible to pupils who are not disabled. The delivery of such information should be made in a reasonable time and after taking into account disabled pupils’ disabilities and preferences expressed by them and their parents. The strategies should contain short-,
medium- and long-term targets over the life of the plan. Schools are not required
to make physical alterations to the fabric of the building in order to meet the needs of disabled pupils. However, they are required to take reasonable steps to address physical features where they affect disabled members of the public who use the school premises. As disability considerations become more of a focus, it is sensible to include plans for improving physical facilities for disabled pupils and members of the public as part of any ongoing refurbishment and improvement programmes. When providing services, schools must
make reasonable adjustments to ensure that disabled people are able to use the school’s services as far as is reasonable to the same standard as non-disabled people. The school must not wait until a disabled person wants to use the services. It is an anticipatory duty and schools are therefore required to think in advance about what people with a range of impairments might reasonably need, such as people who have a visual impairment, a hearing impairment, a mobility
Main image © Franz Pfluegl:
Dreamstime.com
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