Disability Legislation (Week3 - Activity 1.1)

In the conclusion to chapter 4 of Seale (2006) the author suggests that the introduction of standards, guidelines and legislation has not led to a significant improvement in accessibility. Is that how things appear from your context?


Yes, I think so. Although there are guidelines and legislation in place for accessibility I have found that many people who are creating online content are not aware of them. This would be in addition to Seale's concluding reasons that there is confusion over which standards or guidelines to adopt, the differences between them, and difficulties in interpreting and applying them.


The Accessibility Legislation by Techdis outlines the legislation in Europe and the UK. The author expresses the view that some of the terms used are ‘fluffy’ or imprecise. What problems are caused by this imprecision? Does the legislation bring any benefits? If so, who do you think benefits more: disabled students or teaching institutions?

The imprecision might cause problems in that the legislation may be interpreted differently from one organisation to another. In a sense the imprecision is perhaps necessary because the term disability covers such a wide spectrum of impairment and individuals requirements are so widely different. If nothing else the legislation at least helps to disseminate knowledge and raise awareness of potential issues. Taking an "anticipatory" approach rather than a reactive one should benefit both students and institutions in the long term in that the students should encounter fewer problems on a daily basis and the ongoing costs for the institution are likely to be reduced if they are building accessability in (rather than bolting it on later).

Enable (2008) is a global movement from the United Nations to improve the rights of disabled people. One of the rights listed in the convention is the right to education. Has your country ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities? If it hasn’t, why do you think that might be?

I found this article on the UK ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of persons with Disabilities from The Equality and Human Rights Commision from August 2008. It says, "The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities came into force on 3 May 2008. The UK Government has not yet ratified, but has signalled its intention to do so by the end of 2008. " Reasons for not yet ratifying are that some "Government Departments were considering expressing 'reservations' or 'interpretive declarations' in relation to parts of the Convention in order to be able to ratify," and they "wish to see the UK ratify without reservations."

In Moving legislation into action: the examples of India & South Africa (Wong-Hernandez, 2001) what common factor or factors does she identify as hindering progress?

The main factors that seem to be hindering progress according to Wong-Hernandex seem to be education and enforcement. She suggests that individuals, organisations and establishments should be educated about legislation and the rights of disabled people and would like to see the implementation of a monitoring commitee to see that legislation is met.

Do you think that there are specific issues relating to disability and accessibility that are different from those arising with regard to other aspects of equality and human rights, such as racial discrimination?

I think that the major difference is that issues relating to disability and accessability are often environmental, whereas other equality aspects such as those concerned with race or gender are social issues and (perhaps?) more difficult to overcome.