What do we mean by disclosure?
What do we mean by disclosure?
Disclosure is the act of making something known or public that was previously private (Oxford Dictionary 2020). The process of disclosure has been recognised within health and social care literature as complex (Evans 2014) and the decision to disclose or not has been observed as not taken lightly by students with disabilities (Craig 2018).
According to the Equality Act (2010) disclosing or sharing information about a disability (including a long-term health condition) creates legal obligations for employers and educators. When you know, or can be reasonably expected to know, that a learner has an impairment, you have a legal duty to make reasonable adjustments for them (ACAS 2014).
Education providers, and therefore practice educators, also have an anticipatory duty to try to remove disadvantages for people with a disability in advance, where possible.
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Are students obliged to disclose?Students are not legally obliged to disclose a disability. We have already noted that literature suggests the decision to disclose can cause additional stress to the student. However, if this information has previously been disclosed to the educational institution, the student should be encouraged to share this information with their practice educators (Hill and Rogers 2016). It has also been observed that the way in which a practice educator approaches disclosure with a student can be key. |
What do we mean by disclosure?