JISC Legal : Accessibility Law

In this guide, you’ll find summaries of the key legal considerations of using Facebook in an FE and HE context.

This paper considers the legal issues which arise in relation to the taking of or possession of images (still and moving) of children for use in an Open Education Resource. 

These Top Ten Tips were created to celebrate JISC Legal's 10th anniversary, all the while looking forward to the challenges UK FE and HE will face in the next ten years.

A checklist of questions for institutions to consider when updating or framing an e-safety policy.

The legal issues which arise when using e-assessment in UK FE and HE.

Disability discrimination law applies to the services including educational services an institution provides to its staff, students, and third parties.

This overview paper focuses on disability discrimination in respect of ICT and the provision of educational services in UK publicly-funded further and higher education.

When developing e-learning environments or authoring elearning materials, it is important that educational institutions and e-learning authors bear in mind the institution’s obligations under disability discrimination legislation.

An intensive session of presentations and questions and answers on the legal issues of accessibility in the development and delivery of e-learning materials. 

A JISC study to explore the Legal and Records Management Issues relating to the concept of the Lifelong Learner record.

A Briefing Paper on the legal implications under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 of provision by education service providers of digitised materials to colleges and universities. ARCHIVED

The Equality Act 2010 places a legal obligation on FE and HE institutions to not discriminate against staff, learners and other users and visitors to the institution because of a disability. 

The Equality Act 2010 places a legal obligation on institutions not to discriminate against learners with disabilities in their service provision (including resources and delivery of teaching). 

 Data protection and other legal issues remain the same for a college or university when hosting, offering or using blogs, wikis, and any other ... (cont)

We are pleased to announce the launch of JISC Legal Plus - a new staff development service bringing JISC Legal's expertise to your institution at competitive prices...  (cont'd)

The Equality Act 2010 places an obligation on educational service providers not to discriminate against students in the provision of its services ... (cont)

The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (as amended by The Copyright (Visually Impaired Persons) Act 2002) contains copyright exceptions for ... (cont)

Links to further resources. 

The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act (CDPA) 1988 grants some exclusive rights to the owner of a copyright work which include ... (cont)

The general Equality Duty under the Equality Act 2010 comes into force this week (5/04/2011) and places three broad requirements on the public sector including colleges and universities.

The Draft Equality Act (Statutory Duties) Regulations 2011 for England have been withdrawn by the government for further review.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission has issued specific guidance for education providers, employers, workers, service providers and service users.  

A consultation by the GEO seeks views on proposals for draft regulations on the new public sector equality duty.

On 8 April 2010 the Equality Act received royal assent after completing its parliamentary process.

The Digital Economy Act 2010 was given royal assent late on Thursday, 8 April 2010, following the final reading of the Digital Economy Bill in the House of Commons, the previous night.

The Royal Bank of Scotland recently lost their appeal against the decision that they were in breach of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995.  

On the 24 April 2009 the Equality Bill was introduced in the House of Commons and was published on 27 April with a view to achieving Royal Assent in the spring 2010.

The House of Lords, in the case of London Borough of Lewisham v Malcolm [2008] UKHL 43, clarifies the meaning of "less favourable treatment" in relation to disability discrimination.

The European Commission has published a draft report called "Conformity assessment systems and schemes for accessibility requirements" .

JISC Techdis has just released a guidance document on complying with equality duty in which JISC Legal has contributed guidance on the Equality Act 2010.

A resource from the Higher Education Academy English Subject Centre aimed at those developing courses which suggests that it is necessary to consider copyright clearance from the start.

Guidance for public sector organisationsaims to make current equality law more consistent, clearer and easier to follow in order to make society fairer.

Guidance for organisations and employers on the implications of the Equality Act 2010 available at: http://www.equalities.gov.uk/equality_act_2010/equality_act_2010_what_do_i_n.aspx. 

JISC Techdis, a JISC Advance service, works with the HE and FE sector in the UK in the field of accessibility and inclusion. http://www.jisctechdis.ac.uk/

Revised code of practice relating to disabled students in UK higher education institutions.

The CAST mission is to expand educational opportunities for individuals with disabilities through the development and innovative uses of technology.

An online staff training package on libraries and disability produced by the MLA

An archive of discussion and research on disability

Action on Access co-ordinates projects promoting inclusion and diversity in higher education.

A list of ways in which the needs of disabled students could be sensibly anticipated.

Disability and the Law - Useful Links

A section of the general government site focusing on the issue of disability.

These draft guidelines produced by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), explain how to make Web content accessible to people with disabilities

The ECU supports the HE sector in addressing equality and diversity issues

This article looks at the need for developers of institutional and educational web sites to have a strategy for ensuring optimal accessibility of online content.