The forthcoming Qualifications and Curriculum Authority guidelines will leave a significant number of deaf and visually impaired students being set up to fail before they even enter the exam hall (“Disabled law will penalise the deaf”, TES, June 23).
This perverse approach by the QCA has led to the Disability Discrimination Act being used to curtail rather than enlarge opportunities for disabled students - an interpretation we at the Disability Rights Commission believe is both contrary to the spirit of the legislation and its purpose of creating greater equality and inclusion for disabled people.
The Joint Council for Qualifications and the QCA have jumped the gun as the new duties on boards do not come into force until 2007. The commission has written to the QCA and the Education Secretary to get this issue resolved urgently.
Bert Massie
Chairman
Disability Rights Commission
14 Gray’s Inn Road, London, WC1
