The first edition of these Standards was produced at a time of great change in legislation regarding the rights of disabled people and the structures of Government. Most notably this included the following:
- devolution and the establishment of the Scottish Parliament,
- the establishment of the Disability Rights Commission,
- the implementation of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995.
This process of change has continued with the following:
- further implementation of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) and enhanced rights for disabled people in employment, introduced in October 2004,
- a new Disability Discrimination Act in 2005 which has already made changes to the definition of disability and which will over the next few years make other substantial changes to what is covered by discrimination, as outlined below,
- a rewriting of education and special educational needs legislation in Scotland with the Additional Support for Learning Act 2005 which introduced changes from November 2004,
- the new Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 coming into force.
The Disability Rights Commission (DRC) officially opened its doors in Scotland in December 2000. Its job is to address the following:
- eliminate discrimination and work towards equal opportunities for disabled people,
- encourage good practice in the treatment of disabled people,
- review the DDA in practice,
- investigate and take action in discrimination cases and manage a conciliation service.
The Commission offers a number of services:
- a website with all the relevant legislation and guidance, all the DRC publications available to download, and up-to-date news
- and information on the work of the Commission – www.drc-gb.org,
- a helpline which provides advice and information to all callers, whether disabled people or employers and service providers: telephone 08457 622 633, textphone 08457 622 644, email [email protected],
- a casework service to help disabled people who feel they have been discriminated against to try to resolve their issues – contact the helpline to access this service,
- legal representation in courts and tribunals for disabled people whose cases are of strategic importance and will test or change the law.
The Government has announced plans to merge the DRC, the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) and the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) into one Equality and Human Rights Commission, probably in late 2007. It is presently unclear what effect this will have on the service available to disabled people.
The definition of disability was changed on 5 December 2005:
the requirement that mental illness be clinically well recognised was removed,
any person with cancer, HIV infection or multiple sclerosis is deemed to have a disability effectively from the point of diagnosis.
During 2006 the DRC will be consulting on what further changes might be made to the definition of disability.
The Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004 introduced from November 2005 a new framework to replace the previous scheme based on Record of Needs. The term ‘Additional Support Needs’ covers any child or young person who, for whatever reason, needs extra support, long term or short term, to ‘benefit from school education’. The aim is to give children and young people the opportunity to develop personally and help them work to achieve their full potential, and is not just about academic achievement. The new framework includes duties on education authorities to assess and make arrangements for children or young people who have enduring, complex or multiple barriers to learning and who require support from at least one service from outwith education.
These children and young people must have a new statutory Co-ordinated Support Plan. There is a new Additional Support Needs Tribunal to deal with disagreements about Support Plans. The Code of Practice ‘Supporting Children’s Learning’ was published in August 2005 and is available on www.lts.org.uk/inclusiveeducation.
For further and higher education, the duty to make physical alterations came into force in September