| SPOTLIGHT |
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has said it will intervene in a legal case over universities and the reasonable adjustments they must make to their students.
This arose after 20-year-old University of Bristol student Natasha Abrahart took her own life in April 2018 shortly before she was due to deliver a presentation.
Ms Abrahart had a known history of social anxiety, and university staff were aware that she had either missed or struggled to participate in several oral assessments.
The case went to Bristol County Court, which ruled the university had failed to implement reasonable adjustments and had indirectly discriminated against Ms Abrahart due to her disability, but also held there was no duty of care owed by universities to students, and consequently, no negligence on the university's part.
Bristol decided to appeal in order, it said, to gain “absolute clarity for the higher education sector around the application the application of the Equality Act when staff do not know a student has a disability, or when it has yet to be diagnosed”.
The High Court has granted the EHRC permission to give guidance on how and when universities should make reasonable adjustments for their students.
It said it would advise the court on an educational institution’s obligations under the Equality Act, and specifically the anticipatory duty to make reasonable adjustments (Section 20, Equality Act 2010) and competence standards (Schedule 13, 4(2), Equality Act 2010).
EHRC chairwoman Baroness Kishwer Falkner said: “It is important we intervene in this significant and tragic case.
“As experts in equality law, we have followed proceedings closely due to their relevance to a variety of equality issues and potential to have far-reaching implications.
“Our intervention will ensure we can offer the court clear and impartial guidance on equality law, ultimately helping universities to understand their responsibilities under the Equality Act.”
Bristol said when it launched the appeal last year that it was not contesting the specific circumstances of Ms Abrahart’s death or the £50,000 damages awarded by county court.
It said: “We hope [the appeal] will also enable us to provide transparency to students and their families about how we support them and to give all university staff across the country the confidence to do that properly.”
The university said academic and administrative staff assisted Ms Abrahart with referrals to both the NHS and its own disability services, and had suggested alternative academic assessment options.
“However the judgment suggests they should have gone further than this, although Natasha's mental health difficulties had not been diagnosed,” the university said.
“Understandably, this has caused considerable anxiety as it puts a major additional burden on staff who are primarily educators, not healthcare professionals.
“Higher education staff across the country share our concern about the wider impact this judgement could have.”
Mark Smulian
