We all want to participate fully in life. We want to the opportunities to be able to reach our full potential in our studies, in our chosen areas of work and across all areas of life. We know that for many disabled students and disabled people in employment there is still work to be done to reach these objectives

To ensure this equality we now have the Disability Equality Duty (DED) for the public sector. This new legal duty means that all colleges and universities look at ways of ensuring that disabled people achieve true equality of opportunity. This new law requires colleges like Aquinas to be proactive in ensuring that disabled people are treated fairly and builds on the progress we have already made

The DED is not about ticking the right boxes quickly - it’s about a whole Aquinas approach to disability equality, a real opportunity to improve the life chances of disabled people which we will achieve by a process of continuous monitoring and evaluation

The duty to promote disability equality means that we will:

• promote equality of opportunity between disabled people and other people
• eliminate any discrimination unlawful under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995
• eliminate disability related harassment
• promote positive attitudes towards disabled people
• encourage participation by disabled people in public life
• take steps to meet disabled people’s needs, even if this requires more favourable treatment.

This is something we have always done and will continue to do. It applies not just to providing for our students but also for all Aquinas employees, parents visitors and any one in contact with the college. It is enshrined in our requirement that all members of Aquinas College are “responsible for themselves and mindful of others.” This is the touchstone by which all actions, policies, procedures are judged and evaluated.

We will develop our practices by actively including all sections of our community, especially those with disabilities, in discussing, monitoring and evaluating these practices in the spirit of the new legal framework. These discussions and assessments will take place when appropriate and all policies, practices and procedures will be reviewed by the full Governing Body at the Summer Term Governors’ Meeting.

For example to illustrate our commitment we circulated a short form to all 272 employees (including part time invigilators) in November 2006 with the payslip, on which they were encouraged disclose any disability. The response was encouraging with a 67% response rate and a 21% disclosure rate for those who had responded. Almost a quarter of all respondents disclosing a disability stated a willingness to be involved in reviewing practices, policies and procedures. This exercise will be repeated annually each September.

A similar exercise will be also carried out with students after Easter 2007 as part of the Tutorial Programme and will be undertaken in the first half of each Autumn term in future years.

All those who disclose a disability, whether student or staff, will be invited to review all college’s practices, policies and procedures on an annual basis, at least, as part of the college’s Policy Review group’s impact assessment programme.

The college’s bespoke MIS system has been modified and adapted so that we can now report on the recruitment, development and retention of disabled employees as well as the educational achievements of disabled students by disability and category of learning difficulty. As a result this information will be available to the Policy Review group.

We are not complacent about how we treat each other and want to put in place the appropriate support to provide genuine equality of opportunity. For Aquinas College this is not simply a matter of complying with legal duties but living out the college’s mission and translating its ethos into action. Consequently this scheme should always be read in conjunction with college’s mission statement.

Aquinas College Statement of Purpose, Values and Vision

Aquinas College strives to be a Catholic college for the whole Community. Christ is at the very heart of our philosophy. This is expressed in our commitment to the Gospel values of freedom, justice and love.

“I have come so that they may have life and have it to the full.”

We affirm and value each member of our community, recognising the dignity and unique nature of each individual. In this way the presence of Christ is celebrated. We share in each other’s strengths, support each other in our weaknesses, and strive for the highest standards achievement in all we do. We also encourage a questioning stance towards the values of our increasingly secular society. In short, we aim to provide reasons for living and hoping.