Good practice examples

• Emily - reasonable adjustments
• Peter - placement and a vision impairment
• Liam - placement and a mental health condition (4 scenarios)

Emily - reasonable adjustments

Emily is a fulltime student with a chronic medical condition. Her health has deteriorated this semester and she has been hospitalized several times and is now substantially behind in each of her four subjects. The impact of her medical condition means that Emily's attendance is compromised even when she is well, she experiences high levels of fatigue which in turn affect her concentration and memory. Her medication regime is altered regularly as doctors try to stabilize her health. The impact of both the medication and constant adjustment means Emily experiences frequent dizzy spells.

Possible reasonable adjustments:

• Allow late withdrawal from two or three subjects
• Special Consideration be applied
• Emily receives extensions on her outstanding work. Extension deadlines should consider the total workload she has and her current health capabilities and may mean she has lengthy extensions ie several months. Results may be withheld.
• Alternative exam arrangements which incorporate substantial rest breaks, or the provision of a take home exam. Substituting an exam for a written assessment piece may be considered appropriate.

Peter - placement issues/ vision impairment

Peter is a Social Work student. He has a vision impairment and at Uni requires all of his print based materials to be in an accessible format. He relies on adaptive technology to produce written work. In order to facilitate a positive placement experience the following steps were considered:

• Placement coordinator approached Peter early in the semester to initiate a meeting between Peter and his DLU contact
• At this meeting, placements requirements were discussed and possible barriers identified. Strategies for inclusion were highlighted.
• Placement coordinator or Peter approaches an organisation to arrange placement. Peter's disability is disclosed in a positive manner and the organisation assured that preliminary planning has begun and the University is keen to support them in meeting Peter's needs.
• Peter and placement coordinator visit organisation to clarify tasks and identify other relevant issues.
• Peter, placement coordinator and DLU meet to discuss issues and identify responsibilities. DLU organises provision of relevant software to be available for Peter for duration of course and organises key print documents to be made available in an electronic format. University provides disability awareness training to placement organisation.

top of page

Liam - placement issues/ mental health

Scenario one
Liam has a mental health condition which is generally well managed. He is about to go on teaching rounds. He discloses his mental health condition to the placement coordinator but asks that this information not be disclosed to the school he will be attending. Liam attends his three week placement and performs well.

Scenario two
Liam has a mental health condition which is generally well managed. He is about to go on teaching rounds. He discloses his mental health condition to the placement coordinator but asks that this information not be disclosed to the school he will be attending. The placement coordinator feels she has a duty of care to disclose Liam's condition for both Liam's and the schools sake in case anything should go wrong. The school decides they will not accept Liam as a student on placement as he may present a danger to students and staff or not adequately fulfill his duties. Liam feels he has been discriminated against and decides to take legal action against both the University and placement school.

In this scenario the placement coordinator may have breached the University's privacy policy and Liam's confidentiality because there were no grounds to assume that Liam would be a risk on placement. Assumptions have been made about Liam's ability due to his mental health condition.

Scenario three
Liam has a mental health condition which is generally well managed. He is about to go on teaching rounds. He discloses his mental health condition to the placement coordinator but asks that this information not be disclosed to the school he will be attending. Liam, his placement coordinator and the DLU discuss possible issues relating to his placement responsibilities and health such as how he would respond to a situation if he felt overwhelmed what if was feeling unwell etc. Possible management strategies were identified. It was agreed that it would be appropriate to disclose Liam's condition to a senior person at the school who could act as a support if required. The University placement coordinator approached the principal and support strategies were agreed and communicated to Liam. Liam felt secure that he was welcomed and supported by the school and met all of his placement objectives.

Scenario four
Liam has a mental health condition which is generally well managed. He is about to go on teaching rounds. He discloses his mental health condition to the placement coordinator but asks that this information not be disclosed to the school he will be attending. Liam, his placement coordinator and the DLU discuss possible issues relating to his placement responsibilities and health such as how he would respond to a situation if he felt overwhelmed what if was feeling unwell etc. Possible management strategies were identified. It was agreed that it would be appropriate to disclose Liam's condition to a senior person at the school who could act as a support if required. The University placement coordinator approached the principal and support strategies were agreed and communicated to Liam. Liam felt secure that he was welcomed and supported by the school. Liam became unwell over several days of his placement and was not managing. The principal met with Liam and they agreed that intervention was required. The placement coordinator was contacted and the parties agreed that the placement should be suspended, with the remaining hours to be completed over the next month. Alternatively Liam could have been withdrawn from the placement and offered support by the faculty to facilitate a more successful placement next round.

top of page