Brunel Placement and Careers Centre Disability Policy
We welcome students with disabilities and our aim is to offer support in all aspects of your career, from finding part-time jobs to work placements and career planning. We aim to make our services and the information we provide accessible to all.
In order to achieve this we will:
- Work closely with the Disability and Dyslexia Service (DDS) and the Assistive Technology Centre (ATC), seeking their advice where appropriate and acting on their recommendations
- Maintain an accessible centre and work proactively with Estates and Bannerman Tenants group to anticipate and solve any physical obstacles.
- Ensure that our services are publicised widely on our website and in emails and newsletters
- Invite you to let us know of any adjustments that are needed when booking into workshops, appointments, registering for placements
- Work responsively without being intrusive, respecting that you have the right to choose whether or not to disclose your disability to us
- Make reasonable adjustments to existing service provision and provide additional services appropriate to individual requirements
- Provide or organise on-going disability training for all Placement and Careers Centre (PCC) staff
- Review the accessibility of the PCC website on a regular basis by seeking the views and suggestions of disabled students
- Provide links to specialist disability organisations from our website
- Review PCC policies and procedures in light of university policy and changes to legislation
Training sessions and workshops with regard to disability for PCC staff members have included:
- Dyslexia, Dyspraxia and other SLDs
- Reasonable Adjustments in the Workplace
- Helping Clients with Communication Difficulties
- Access to Work Scheme
- Impact of Equality Act on Recruitment Processes
PCC Disability Group
The PCC has a Disability Interest Group which was formed to promote the interests of students with disabilities by:
- Sharing good practice across the three teams of the PCC (but not acting as an “expert” in disability matters)
- Raising issues relevant to disabled students (e.g. accessibility of website; monitoring of disabled students use of PCC; ensuring information materials are accessible and inclusive)
- Keeping a watching brief on disability legislation
- Working to ensure a consistent standard of service across the PCC (e.g. consistent processes and procedures)
- Liaising with DDS and other university disability groups
Feedback from Users
- Evaluation is carried out during our twice yearly Quality Week Survey which asks users to evaluate the services they have received in Quick Query, guidance appointments, careers library and workshops
- The information collected is anonymous allowing students the freedom to make both positive and negative comments/suggestions. Bio data (including disability) is collected which enables us to monitor usage of the service by specific groups.
- PCC evaluation policy and complaints procedure details methods for gaining feedback. To give feedback use our online form
- We regularly consult with the Disability & Dyslexia Service and Assistive Technology Centre on how to improve our service including our web pages
- We endeavour to make adjustments based on any feedback we receive on an ongoing basis. View a list of our adjustments
Employer/Placement Vacancies
We adhere to the codes of practice as set out in the guidelines from AGCAS, to work within the AGCAS Equal Opportunities policy and follow this with regard to our own staffing as well as our professional practice.
In addition, Brunel PCC makes every effort to ensure that the vacancy information publicised is accurate. We advise students to clarify all details relating to the vacancy and subsequent employment directly with the employer.
We are proactive in ensuring that the job vacancies we publicise do not discriminate against an individual in any way. We advise students to contact us if they feel that this is not the case. If for a reason related to a disability, students feel that they would have difficulty meeting the essential requirements of the job as advertised, we can advise the student on how to approach employers regarding making reasonable adjustments. We will also provide information and guidelines, where appropriate, to employers on how to make their vacancies and internships accessible to disabled students and signpost to relevant information resources.
The Placement Team works closely with students to empower them to negotiate reasonable adjustments with their placement employers. The Placement Team, Academic Visiting Tutor or DDS mediate between the employer and student should any problems arise.
All registered disabled placement students are invited for a placement support meeting with their Placement Officer and DDS Adviser. An individual action plan and support package is developed with the student to assist them throughout the placement process.
Brunel University is required to produce a Disability Equality Scheme (DES) which outlines the progress made in establishing effective services and support for disabled people.
12 Month Plan
The PCC works to an action plan which outlines objectives and tasks contingent with the aims of the Disability Group and which is tied into the university Disability Equality Scheme.
In the last 12 months we have:
- Contributed to a pre-University study programme for students with disabilities/learning difficulties prior to joining Brunel
- Made a number of our most heavily used information handouts inclusive
- Added content relevant to disabled students to the PCC website
- Liaised with employers and internship providers to maximise placement and employment opportunities for disabled students
- Delivered a session on Disclosure in conjunction with DDS as part of our Employability Week programme
- Organised training on Access to Work for all PCC staff
- Promoted placements to disabled students to encourage greater take up
- Analysed student swipe card data to compare levels of service take up between disabled and non-disabled students. The results showed that the proportion of disabled students using the PCC was equal to that of non-disabled students.
In the next 12 months we will:
- Continue to work on making our information handouts inclusive
- Add in further content relevant to disabled students to the PCC
- Continue to liaise with employers and internship providers to maximise placement and employment opportunities for disabled students
- Offer additional disclosure workshops as part of the PCC’s workshop programme
- Analyse the data from student swipe cards to find out the percentage of students with disabilities undertaking placements compared with that of non-disabled students
- Explore the potential of our social networking sites to enhance communication with disabled students
- Continue to promote placements to disabled students to encourage greater take up
- Assess the new web technology being developed in PCC to see if it offers new ways to enhance service delivery to disabled students, and to exploit new methods of obtaining feedback
- Identify appropriate training events for PCC staff and update training in line with changes in legislation
- Work with DDS to find a way of sending targeted information direct to disabled students registered with the service
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