NADO Inaugural Conference : Skill's Perspective on Disability Support in HE
NADO is the sort of organisation that Skill is very keen to support because:
- it will take over a part of the work that Skill is currently doing;
- it will be a group that Skill can work with in the future;
Skill exists primarily for disabled students and not disability co-ordinators, although it spends most of its time working with disability co-ordinators, tutors, teachers, senior managers and practitioners.
Why does Skill spend so much time working with a group which is not its key market?
- this group is the key to most of the work that Skill does or would like to see done with and for students;
- practitioners and disability officers are the first people to make contact with disabled students when they enter an institution and who continue to have a relationship with them as they progress with their education;
- this group has a role in changing the way an organisation operates and is organised.
Skill's aim is that disabled people should be an integrated part of the academic community, not a marginalised group. Skill sees itself as a provider of advice and referral to students and a resource for staff. The natural and proper place for direct services is within the institution. Skill hopes that disability co-ordinators also recognise that although they are a source of advice and expertise, the natural place for services is with other staff e.g. tutors. Co-ordinators are a 'spinning wheel' and the expertise spins out towards the periphery where students have more contact.
Skill hopes that NADO's vision is that 'co-ordinators are central but behind the scenes'. If this is the case, NADO and Skill will have a very productive relationship.
If disabled students are to have equal rights they should not be seen as something 'add on' or additional. Otherwise the appearance or disappearance of the disability co-ordinator's post will correspond with the appearance or disappearance of services for disabled students. However if the person activates within an institution, things will become more routed and may carry on.
There are three challenges which face NADO, which may constitute its future aims and which Skill hopes it will take on board:
- the position which disability co-ordinators have in an institution should be one of influence, not necessarily of power. Someone with power delivers things, someone with influence arranges for other people to deliver those things;
- training is essential. The disability co-ordinator should be a campaigner, a strategist who is able to influence. As this may not apply to many people in current posts, there should be training about strategic issues to do with influencing an organisation and working your way around the institution tactfully but effectively. Many co-ordinators already do this very well but it is a result of their background and experience. We cannot leave people's experience and expertise to chance, as it is not fair to students. If NADO wants to talk like a profession it will have to train like a profession;
- the consideration of a common code of practice across the profession. In some institutions the lack of a code of practice and the freedom of operation works better than any code of practice, although in some institutions a code of practice could be extremely beneficial. As we move towards a profession we need a more standard understanding across the country of what the role is going to be. Students need the security that they are getting the same service across the country, the same as if they went to a counsellor. Additionally the profession and institution need the security of a code of practice (for issues of insurance etc.)