The UCU Left is a national organisation of University and College Union activists. It is committed to ensuring that the new union has a democratic structure through which members can determine policy, and elected officers and professional officials can be held accountable. It seeks to defend educational equality, and to oppose the consequences of neo-liberal marketisation. It is opposed to all forms of racism, sexism, oppression and imperialism.
UCU Left - Policy Discussion - Disability Rights
Please find below a brief introduction to an article produced by a UCU Left Steering Committee member on the subject of the Disability Equality Duty (DED) act. This article is intended to inform a wider discussion on the subject of disability rights. As such, we welcome your comments and any suggested alterations. The intention being that a full policy document on the subject will be presented to the next UCU Left members conference and, if appropriate, voted upon as a UCU Left policy statement. Please email your comments to uculeft@btinternet.com
Extract of article by Sasha Callaghan (UCU President Elect)

The Disability Equality Duty (DED) came into force in December 2006 and is potentially the most significant piece of legislation to affect the lives of disabled people for a generation. The DED is similar in some ways to the Race Equality Duty but it is far more pro - active and outcome driven. The intentions behind the Duty are to eradicate the gap between the life chances of disabled and non disabled people, remove barriers to inclusion. and actively involve disabled people in service planning and delivery. Although it builds on the Disability Discrimination Act, the DED focuses on combatting institutional and systemic discrimination, rather than increasing the individual rights of disabled people.

Key Public Bodies (including H.E Institutions, F.E. Colleges, Adult and Community Education Providers, Prison Education) are legally required to publish their Disability Equality Schemes and should have done so by December 4th 2006. The Disability Rights Commission (DRC), which is enforcing the Duty, is not allowing any exemptions from this timetable and is already calling in Schemes to see whether disabled people have been sufficiently involved in their development.

The new Duty offers UCU the opportunity to put disability equality at the heart of our organising and collective bargaining agenda. Our own members will need to undergo disability equality training and Disability Equality Duty training but this will be an investment that can bring real rewards,

For the first time, our employers will have to monitor staff by impairment, assess how past, present and potential policies and practises impact upon all disabled people and promote the involvement of disable people in public life.

We will have the right to demand information from employers, for example on recruitment, retention and progression of disabled staff, and if they fail to respond they will be liable to face an enforcement notice from the DRC or a legal challenge in court.

We can also use the DED to ensure that our members get involved in any Disability Action Groups or networks that are established within workplaces and persuade our employers to adopt the social model of disability, as UCU has already done.

Read Sasha's article in full - available here (pdf)

Read Sasha's and Paul Brown's letter to the THES (pdf)


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