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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

in thinking this 'reasonable adjustment' is unreasonable?

130 replies

hedgehogsdontbite · 12/10/2015 11:28

I've recently started a course at my local college. My class is on the second floor and all facilities are on the ground floor. There is a lift which is not normally available to students and requires a key to operate. Keys are only issued to staff members, so I can't use the lift on my own.

I'm finding this more disabling than enabling. I have to wait by the lift in the hope that a member of staff wanders by and that I can identify them as staff. Or send a text to my teacher so she can come down and get me. I can't even go to the toilet on my own. I feel really uncomfortable with the attention this adjustment brings about and just want to be able to come and go like everyone else.

AIBU?

OP posts:
bananapuddles · 12/10/2015 14:09

In my place of work, I am staff (obviously!) and still wasn't given a lift key to access the second floor (definitely needed to work across both levels) when I was heavily pregnant and on crutches with severe SPD.

I think sometimes it is a case of having been abused before, there aren't any keys and it's a lot of paperwork to get new ones cut or it's a blanket policy that hasn't had a challenge before.

I agree with previous posters though, the least they could do is let you have a key and sign it in and out each day.

regenerationfez · 12/10/2015 14:24

It doesnt matter about the system being abused before though, they are in breach of the Equality Act, and can be prosecuted and given massive fines for not complying. They should know this. I worked in an FE college for years and was responsible for their equality training. It was gone over again and again!

annandale · 12/10/2015 14:39

YANBU. Hope that they sort it pronto.

Foxyloxy1plus1 · 12/10/2015 17:03

If there is such a problem with anyone but a staff member having a key, why can't the class be moved to the ground floor, so that you can access it and presumably the toilet too.

A crazy situation for you and one that shouldn't be allowed to continue.

BathtimeFunkster · 12/10/2015 17:11

Previous abuse of lift keys and managing that risk in future is their problem.

They cannot pass the difficulty on to you.

You have a right to unimpeded access to your class and the toilet.

BathtimeFunkster · 12/10/2015 17:16

I think I'll get my support worker on the case now

How fucking dare they create this extra hassle for you at the start of your course?

A support worker needed to make sure you can get to your class??

Angry

These are the tiny ways we (as a society) make life more difficult for people with disabilities.

FFS

I hope you get it sorted soon. Flowers

nooka · 12/10/2015 17:38

It sounds as if there has been no thought at all given to your needs OP. Saying that your teacher can escort you to the toilet is embarrassing for you and disruptive to the class. I also suspect that they have not thought about evacuation at all. Did they give a 'what to do in the case of an emergency' talk on the first day of the course?

I'd want to see the decision making paperwork because it sounds to me that they forgot to make any provision at all. I wonder if they looked to see if the class could be moved to the ground floor, which would have been the most appropriate and safest accommodation (might not be possible given the building, class needs etc, which is fair enough, but I suspect they just didn't think) or really put in any thought at all. Perhaps they left it to the individual teacher to think about?

Andrewofgg · 12/10/2015 18:07

Complain, complain, complain, threaten litigation, complain until it is less trouble to give you a key than not to. This is absurd.

sleeponeday · 12/10/2015 18:13

Really, really angry on your behalf, OP. This is appalling and they need a sharp reminder that reasonable adjustments should mean just that - adjustments.

Hope they sort it for you, and fast.

BigChocFrenzy · 12/10/2015 18:22

Bloody outrageous disablism. I'm fuming on your behalf Angry
The college are breaking the law, hindering your access to education.
They are also humiliating you, making you ask to be taken to the toilet, like a kindergarten pupil.
They may not have created a PEEP for you, another serious breach.

I hope your support worker kicks the relevant arses so hard they never do this again to any future student or teacher with a disability.

MovingOnUpMovingOnOut · 12/10/2015 18:40

A reasonable adjustment would be to give you a key for the lift or move the class downstairs.

You are entitled to not just less favourable treatment but more favourable treatment for disabilities if that is what is required to redress the inequality caused by the disability.

I would be very happy to write you a stinking letter with reference the relevant law and how they are discriminating against you. I'd also ask about the specific risk assessments they have performed to ensure your health and safety.

The sound shitter than shit Angry

RaspberryOverload · 12/10/2015 19:27

This is just appalling.

Yes, a key and a PEEP should be the minimum.

I think the best way would have been to move the class to the ground floor.

They need their arses handed back to them.

Andrewofgg · 12/10/2015 19:35

If the numbers in the class are greater than any ground floor room can accommodate, then of course you cannot meet on the ground floor.

But then you are entitled to a lift-key.

That is a perfect illustration of what is and what is not a reasonable adjustment.

NotMeNotYouNotAnyone · 12/10/2015 19:38

You definitely need s key!

I believe a PEEP would assess whether you can get downstairs in an emergency or if you need help or specialist equipment to be helped downstairs. You certainly shouldn't be left to bum shuffle in between hundreds of stampeding students. And you should know what the plan is.

YADNBU and I'm sorry you're facing such discrimination Flowers

LIZS · 12/10/2015 19:40

Are there classrooms on ground floor level, if so that might be a better solution.

LillyBugg · 12/10/2015 19:43

This is just awful OP. Please please challenge it. I'm cross on your behalf! Perhaps mention a friend who works for the local paper if they still say no....the media would love a story like this.

Andrewofgg · 12/10/2015 20:06

OP What country are you in?

If it is the UK I'm gobsmacked that such attitudes still exist in a responsible organisation.

Original poster
hedgehogsdontbite · 12/10/2015 20:52

I'm in Sweden. Equality and inclusion is taken very seriously here, which is why I was wondering if IWBU.

OP posts:
Andrewofgg · 12/10/2015 21:14

Sweden is generally held up as a model for the rest of us to follow, so my gob is even smackeder, as Frankie Howerd would have put it.

Raise fifty sorts of hell - and please keep us informed!

FrancesNiadova · 12/10/2015 21:20

So angry for you hedgehog Angry
Even if the lift has been abused/damaged in the past, this has absolutely nothing to do with you. They are hiding behind alleged previous incidents of the lift being damaged to avoid forming a proper plan.
Not only does this not support your disability, but also trampled on Fairness & Dignity in the Workplace.
Give 'em hell! Flowers

MovingOnUpMovingOnOut · 12/10/2015 21:23

Sweden? Jeez. They should know better.

manicinsomniac · 12/10/2015 22:37

Agree with everyone else, this is appalling.

Even more worrying to me is the fact that you haven't been informed of and practised your emergency evacuation plan.

They must be breaking the law on both counts.

I wouldn't ask your support worker to talk to them though, I would do it yourself. They're far less likely to be able to bluff and avoid the issue if faced directly with the person affected.

Original poster
HedgehogsDontBite · 17/11/2015 11:57

UPDATE:

I still don't have a key. I keep being told that it will be sorted, it'll just take time.

Today I've made a complete fool of myself and now don't want to go until it's sorted, which will mean never as out of sight out of mind.

They forgot me today. I sat and waited and waited and waited and nobody came. 15 minutes after the start of my class a caretaker let me up. My classroom is empty. I don't know where everyone is because I missed the start of class. I can't leave because there's now nobody around.

Eventually my teacher came out of another room, saw me and was all full of sorrys. I couldn't say anything to her because by this point I was fighting back tears. I felt so insignificant and humiliated. So then I had to go into the class part way through, while clearly very distressed, with everyone staring at me. I wanted to ground to open up and swallow me.

And then at the end I was hurry, hurry, hurried to the lift to leave because she was in the middle of doing an exam. She actually ran to lift and I felt pressured into moving faster than I was comfortable with.

I hate my life.

OP posts:
SpangleDragon · 17/11/2015 12:02

oh you poor thing, feel really sorry you are going though this

Its total shit and not fair!

can you chase your support worker?? even show them this thread?

TwoTwoOneBravo · 17/11/2015 12:09

Oh gosh, how awful OP. But please don't think you made a fool of yourself. You absolutely didn't. Anyone would be very distressed given the circumstances.

But you do need to escalate this now. They way you have been treated is appalling. I would write out what has happened and send it to the head of the college marked urgent. I'm fuming on your behalf.

Flowers
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