Question for #ActuallyAutistic and #ADHD ers, as well as UK HE specialists and lawyers… I’m wondering if it is a breach of the UK 2010 equalities act to deny students reasonable accommodation until they have formal diagnosis of their neurodivergence?
I gather waiting lists for diagnosis are in some local authorities more than 3 years (eg an entire University degree) and the diagnostic instruments authorised for use in most cases (eg ADOS) are known to be significantly flawed (disproportionately denying diagnosis at rates of greater than 2x to non-male, non-cis and non-white folx).
I’ll post later on a deep dive I’ve done into HESA data on underreporting of invisible disabilities in British Universities which is pretty shocking.
But my key curiosity for now is whether it would be reasonable to suggest that Universities are risking viable legal action based on their disability and accommodation policies. It seems that the moral arguments are often less effective than procedural and legal ones, so just vetting tactics of resistance that work within these cultural dynamics…
For those who are wondering, you can find the specifics of the act re: disability here: https://www.gov.uk/definition-of-disability-under-equality-act-2010. A disability which qualifies is “a physical or mental impairment that has a ‘substantial’ and ‘long-term’ negative effect on your ability to do normal daily activities”. I know of some conditions which are de facto be self-certified, but this has always been problematic for autism which is far more medicalised and controlled as a category.