DDB 86 Headway
Headway's response to
Draft Disability Discrimination
Bill
Deborah Ginns
Director of Communications
Headway - the Brain Injury Association
Contact: 02078410245 or 07951 567472
February 2003
1. Background to brain injury
1.1 The Health Select Committee Inquiry into
Brain Injury in March 2001 declared:
"Head injury is the foremost
cause of death and disability in young people…There is a
growing population of head-injured people in this country, as
improved medical techniques have led to many head-injured people
now surviving their accident and living into old age, with a normal
life expectancy."
1.2 In the UK, approximately one
million people attend hospital accident and emergency departments
every year with some form of traumatic brain injury. According
to Health and Safety Executive statistics, five per cent of over-three-day
injuries to employees in 2000/1 were head injuries. This is likely
to be an underestimate due to the difficulties in accurately recognising
and recording head injury.
1.3 Although brain injury can result
from accidents at work, assaults, sports injuries and accidents
in the home, the largest group of people with brain injury are
men aged 15-29 who are involved in a road traffic accident. Brain
injury generally does not alter life expectancy, therefore these
young men may face a lifetime of challenges.
1.4 The residual deficits that
result from traumatic brain injury can be grouped into three areas:
Physical: impairments of movement; co-ordination and balance;
loss of sensation; tiredness; headache; epilepsy; incontinence.
Cognitive: difficulties with memory; attention and concentration;
speed of information processing; planning and organising; problem
solving; perception.
Emotional and behavioural: including agitation, anxiety; anger
and irritability; disinhibition; emotional instability; self-centredness;
inflexibility; poor motivation; depression and personality change.
Each individual will have a unique
combination of these difficulties. Hence any rehabilitation needs
are complex and require a combined approach from a multi-disciplinary
team.
2. Issues arising from Draft Disability
Discrimination Act
2.1 Headway, the brain injury association
warmly welcomes the principles of the Disability Discrimination
Bill.
3. Volunteers
3.1 At the moment, volunteers are
not covered by the Disability Discrimination Act. It was a recommendation
by the Disability Rights Taskforce that volunteers should receive
the same protection as employees under section II of the Disability
Discrimination Act. However, this Bill does not propose that
there should be any change to the position, despite the government
accepting the recommendation in its final response to the Task
Force (Towards Inclusion, March 2001). Headway would welcome
the protection of volunteers under the new disability discrimination
act.
3.2 One of the most problematic
aspects of recovering from brain injury is that survivors experience
a loss of confidence, decreased capabilities, and it can take
a long time for brain injury survivors to be able to return to
work. Volunteering is often a valuable step on the route to
future employment. It can help survivors to evaluate their own
skills, help self-esteem, gain valuable experience and help them
to gain references. It is also vital for improving the quality
of life of brain injury survivors.
3.3 Kevin had a brain tumour removed
in 1995. At this time, he said his "confidence was low,
very low". Since starting volunteering, he has become a
director on the organisations' management committee and has got
a befriending scheme off the ground. For him, the most invaluable
aspect of volunteering is the fact it helped him build his confidence
and he can now talk to anyone at any level.
3.4 John was a senior manager working
in Health and Safety for a multimillion-pound company. Following
an accident in 2001 he was unable to work. Twelve months after
his accident a professional referred him to a Headway Centre.
He started in March as a volunteer and member rolled into one.
As he improved he started to do two mornings a week. The role
swung more towards volunteer than member. He has now progressed
to part time work as a cook under the Permitted Work Scheme, but
still goes one morning a week as a volunteer/member to assist
with health and safety.
4. Examining bodies
4.1 Although Special Educational
Needs Disability Act 2001 altered the DDA so that discrimination
relating to disability in education is prohibited, examination
bodies are still not covered by the DDA despite the Disability
Rights Task Force recommendation that they should be covered.
4.2 We are concerned that examining
bodies and standard setting agencies are not covered. This seems
to leave a complete anomaly for disabled people. While reasonable
adjustments may be made for internally set examinations, external
examination bodies are not required to make such adjustments.
So while you may get assistance in internally marked degree course,
a student taking a key skills examination set by external examiners
would not!
4.3 It is estimated that it can
take approximately seven years for someone with a brain injury
to adapt to their "new" self. A key part of that is
changing and adapting to new limitations and finding new skills.
4.4 Equal opportunities in examinations
are important for brain injury survivors because qualifications
provide vital means for re-entering the labour market, gaining
skills and improving self-confidence.
5. Summary
5.1 While Headway welcomes the
Draft Disability Discrimination Bill, we feel that an opportunity
has been missed to help disabled people such as brain injury survivors
who have acquired a brain injury during the course of their lives
to adapt to their new circumstances.
"Headway aims to promote
understanding of all aspects of brain injury; and to provide information,
support and services to people with a brain injury, their family
and carers"
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