The Equality Authority notes with disappointment of the outcome of the appeal to the High Court in the Cahill v. Minister for Education and Science. The Authority had appealed the Circuit Court decision on matters concerning the reasonable accommodation of students with disabilities. This original complaint dates back to 2001.
“The Equality Authority regrets that Leaving Certificates for students with dyslexia can still be annotated for students who despite their disability successfully sit the Leaving Certificate examinations” said Renee Dempsey, CEO, The Equality Authority. “The Authority urges the Tanaiste to take this opportunity, to review the practices in the Department to improve the accommodation of people with disabilities”
“Any Leaving certificate student finds exam time a challenge. The added burden of overcoming dyslexia in written examinations should be viewed as an additional academic achievement rather than a qualified success” continued Ms Dempsey. “Students with disabilities are to be admired for their successes in mainstream education and all existing accommodations assist in this inclusive practice in our education system” she added.
“It is still possible and necessary for more to be done for students with disabilities. The legal clarification given by the High Court creates a space to change this policy of annotation, that would indeed be good news for the current students who are sitting their State examinations at present. We hope the new Minister will make every effort to continue to accommodate the needs of students with disabilities by addressing this issue of standardising Leaving Certificates for all students”, concluded Renee Dempsey.
Ends
Background note:
The case (Cahill vs Minster for Education and Science) is about the annotation of the Leaving Certificate of a student with dyslexia in 2001. The claimant had applied for reasonable accommodation in the Leaving Cert exam because of her dyslexia. This was eventually granted in the form of a modification to the marking scheme in language subjects, so that her spelling, punctuation and some grammatical elements were not separately marked. When the certificate was issued, it carried explanatory notes stating that certain parts of the exam had not been assessed in English, Irish and French. The claimant’s father appealed the notation issue to the Department of Education but was unsuccessful.
The claimant believed that the notation was discriminatory and a breach of her right to privacy. She and a number of others referred complaints to the Equality Tribunal and looked for assistance from the Equality Authority.
The Equality Authority entered into lengthy correspondence with the Department of Education from 2002 onwards. It commissioned research on the issue and engaged with the Department on the matter.
In the absence of a resolution, the Authority then granted legal representation to Kim Cahill and another claimant and represented the claimants at the Equality Tribunal during a two week long hearing which issued a favourable decision issued in November 2006. The Equality Officer made a number of orders against the Department of Education.
The Department appealed to the Circuit Court. The appeal ran for nine days in the Circuit Court and Judge Hunt overturned the decision of the Equality Tribunal in October 2007. That judgment was then appealed to the High Court on a point of law.
The case was heard by Judge De Valera in April 2009.
The Equality Officer concluded
“I hereby make the following order in accordance with Section 27 of the Equal Status Act, 2000:
- The respondent is hereby directed to pay each of the complainants €6000 as compensation for the discrimination.
- The respondent is hereby directed to issue new Leaving Certificates to the complainants without the relevant notations.
- The respondent is hereby directed to ensure that all aspects of its appeal process conform with the rules of natural justice, in particular audi alteram partem, instead of adhering rigidly to the principles set out by the Expert Advisory Group regardless of the appellant’s case.
- The respondent is hereby directed to formally investigate the feasability, with a view to its implementation, of creating and implementing a system which can create an individually suited accommodation or group of accommodations which meet the needs of each particular student applying for accommodation, based on their individual assessment, rather than the current practice of assessing each applicant student to grant access to a pre-existing accommodation.
- The respondent is hereby directed to ensure that the range of accommodations which is available at present for students with disabilities continues to be available. This Decision should not serve to justify any regression in relation to the situation which already prevails.”
