Students with health conditions Options

[maggiemay]

If you turn this person down purely on health grounds and there is no reason for a clinical specialist to be worried it would be unsafe to proceed then you are "Providing a lesser or no service on account of disability" which is against the law. You are not expected to know anything extra here. The law only requires you to make Reasonable Adjustments, which would include simple and inexpensive things like allowing breaks when required but would not involve anything complex. Saying no puts you at greater risk than saying yes, and I'm afraid the law doesn't find your unease about the situation to be any defence to legal action if the student decided to sue you for discrimination.

This is legislation taken to a ridiculous extreme. If someone feels uncomfortable giving lessons to someone else, for whatever reason, it is surely better for everyone that the pupil moves on to a different teacher.

I agree. PC gone mad. I teach in my own home. If I feel a potential student is not for me, or that I am not the teacher that student needs, I will not take them on. End of.

[Bass Clef]

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If I felt uncomfortable teaching someone then I wouldn't do it. I recently turned down a potential pupil who was very autistic - I have no experience of it, no skills in managing it and no knowledge of teaching someone with it - am I discriminating because of their 'disability' - yes, because I don't have the required skills to meet their needs. Some pupils/parents decide not to choose me as a teacher - maybe they're discriminating against me because of my poor eyesight or my fibromylagia? If we got to the stage where we had to teach everyone that came our way for fear of being accused of discriminating against them, then I reckon it's time to give up teaching...and I wouldn't be the only one.

In this case, the OP may feel that the combination of the intrument the pupil wishes to learn along with their health condition is something which they don't feel they have the necessary skills to deal with. They should be free to make that decision on the basis they're not the right teacher for that pupil.
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But in this case, you felt that you didn't have the necessary skills to teach this student whereas we are talking about a case where the student doesn't really need any special treatment beyond what we would normally do (i.e. hope that student will be OK, but if they're not then call for help).
If I was this person I think I would feel really sad and fed up about being treated differently if I knew that I was physically able to learn the sax. I appreciate the OP's worry about the situation, but I would urge them to think about how they'd feel in the pupil's shoes.

[Seer_Green]

But in this case, you felt that you didn't have the necessary skills to teach this student whereas we are talking about a case where the student doesn't really need any special treatment beyond what we would normally do (i.e. hope that student will be OK, but if they're not then call for help).

Absolutely, this is probably the case, but you can't change the way someone feels 'inside' - if someone doesn't feel comfortable with it, for whatever reason (and very often, it's hard to put this into words), they shouldn't feel they have to teach them.

In fairness, my post was in response to RoseRodent rather than the OP. It seems to me that from what the OP has described, the potential pupil isn't disabled anyway.

[RoseRodent]

I recently turned down a potential pupil who was very autistic - I have no experience of it, no skills in managing it and no knowledge of teaching someone with it - am I discriminating because of their 'disability' - yes, because I don't have the required skills to meet their needs.

That's why the law speaks of Reasonable Adjustments. It takes into account what is reasonable given a range of circumstances, taking into account that you are a sole trader, that you work from home, that it's (in the grand scheme of things) a low turnover business therefore the law would likely conclude that turning a pupil down because you cannot meet their needs AND meeting their needs would required expensive or time-consuming retraining then you can legally say you think you cannot meet the person's needs. If it were a student wanting to learn with a music service the law would likely see it very differently, that the music service has access to send the teacher on professional development training, which will be of ongoing benefit to other potential students in the future and is therefore a good investment. The law doesn't require the insane, it doesn't say rebuild your home to get wheelchairs in, it doesn't tell us all to learn to read Braille music, but it does say that if the needs are small and easily met then they have to be met.

Whether or not the student is disabled is an interesting point as the definition of disabled is very wide, but if they don't meet any of the legal definitions of disability then I can't see any reason why they should not learn the sax, as anyone with a heart condition that compromises them in performing activities is likely to meet the definition.

You can't change how you feel inside? Yes you can. It takes work, but it starts with sheeding the belief that your feelings are automatically correct and should therefore be clung to and that you need to protect yourself from things that make you uneasy. Getting stuck in to things that challenge us is often the starting point for that. I wasn't comfortable teaching children who didn't speak English but was sent on a teaching practice where 17 out of the 21 children had less than a term or so of exposure to English, including one who arrived the very day I started with not a word. It wasn't anything like as difficult as I thought it was going to be (though obviousl it was difficult) and now I have completely changed my impression of whether or not I am the right teacher for a pupil with limited English language skills.

I think we owe most students at least a trial period, especially in any areas of our own ignorance. How can a teacher feel confident they don't meet the needs of a student whose needs they in fact don't particularly understand?

[maggiemay]

In fact, language, or lack of it, is one thing I have never had a problem with, but rather regarded as a fun challenge.

And yes, in general I will offer a trial period, even where initially I have doubts.

But there's always the odd one that doesn't get to first base.
Like the father who asked me, a few years ago, if his 5 year old son could come every morning before school.

[Listener]

You can't change how you feel inside? Yes you can. It takes work, but it starts with sheeding the belief that your feelings are automatically correct and should therefore be clung to and that you need to protect yourself from things that make you uneasy. <...> I think we owe most students at least a trial period, especially in any areas of our own ignorance. How can a teacher feel confident they don't meet the needs of a student whose needs they in fact don't particularly understand?

To play devil's advocate, isn't this rather one sided? We are all flawed to some extent. Clinging to beliefs is not the same as feeling uneasy. A teacher may be afraid of doing something, an inadequacy that they may be honest enough to admit to, but not feel able to deal with at present - for whatever reason. A private teacher has no safety net of support. The law forcing them to step beyond a 'comfort boundary' is not helpful to teacher or student. From what is posted on here teachers do enough worrying already. Were I the student referred to in the OP I would want a teacher who felt comfortable around me.

[artisticlicence]

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[artisticlicence]

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[artisticlicence]

To play devil's advocate, isn't this rather one sided? We are all flawed to some extent. Clinging to beliefs is not the same as feeling uneasy. A teacher may be afraid of doing something, an inadequacy that they may be honest enough to admit to, but not feel able to deal with at present - for whatever reason. A private teacher has no safety net of support. The law forcing them to step beyond a 'comfort boundary' is not helpful to teacher or student. From what is posted on here teachers do enough worrying already. Were I the student referred to in the OP I would want a teacher who felt comfortable around me.

Absolutely agree with this!

[artisticlicence]

You risk breaking the law in turning the student down. If you make a living from your teaching then the law deems you to be a service provider. If you turn this person down purely on health grounds and there is no reason for a clinical specialist to be worried it would be unsafe to proceed then you are "Providing a lesser or no service on account of disability" which is against the law. You are not expected to know anything extra here. The law only requires you to make Reasonable Adjustments, which would include simple and inexpensive things like allowing breaks when required but would not involve anything complex. Saying no puts you at greater risk than saying yes, and I'm afraid the law doesn't find your unease about the situation to be any defence to legal action if the student decided to sue you for discrimination. It is exactly because of being turned down for these sorts of 'reasons' that legislation had to be drafted.

You don't need to do or know anything special, ask the student how they would like to be dealt with if they feel unwell in a minor way so that you don't fuss around or panic. In my case, for example, I am prone to falling over and usually use a wheelchair. I tend to play sitting down, but if for whatever reason I need to move around on crutches I tell people that there is nothing helpful they can do if I start to fall down and they are more likely to injure me and themselves by trying to help, so the best thing to do is look at me sympathetically while I fall down. I don't want people to panic if I keel over, but I can't stop them doing so if they decide to over-react, but the law doesn't let the fact that they feel uncomfortable when I fall down be a reason for them to get rid of me. If the student is majorly unwell you call an ambulance exactly as you would do if a previously healthy student keeled over clutching at his heart. At that point it would be reasonable in law to require a medical certificate to take the student back, and if it happened twice you would be on good legal ground to terminate, but I don't imagine for one moment it would happen even once.

I know all about disability I have several disabilities myself.....but the above makes me want to give up teaching completely due to my severe OCD about feeling responsible for other's people well being (often irrational and many people don't understand why I can't just snap out of it) - just when my therapist had got me to go ahead and take the plunge into teaching and I was doing alright (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif) this is more about my own health and safety than the student's! how does it work the other way around? - as other's have pointed anyone can take a turn at any time but for me it's what goes on in my own mind and how it affects me - I have been warned to avoid negative stress if at all possible as it could be life-threatening! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

[carol*piano]

I know all about disability I have several disabilities myself.....but the above makes me want to give up teaching completely due to my severe OCD about feeling responsible for other's people well being (often irrational and many people don't understand why I can't just snap out of it) - just when my therapist had got me to go ahead and take the plunge into teaching and I was doing alright (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif) this is more about my own health and safety than the student's! how does it work the other way around? - as other's have pointed anyone can take a turn at any time but for me it's what goes on in my own mind and how it affects me - I have been warned to avoid negative stress if at all possible as it could be life-threatening! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

You know yourself what you can and cannot deal with - don't let other people's opinions make you feel like you are doing the wrong thing.

[artisticlicence]

You know yourself what you can and cannot deal with - don't let other people's opinions make you feel like you are doing the wrong thing.

Thank you Carol (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Hils]

You can't change how you feel inside? Yes you can. It takes work, but it starts with sheeding the belief that your feelings are automatically correct and should therefore be clung to and that you need to protect yourself from things that make you uneasy. ...
I think we owe most students at least a trial period, especially in any areas of our own ignorance. How can a teacher feel confident they don't meet the needs of a student whose needs they in fact don't particularly understand?

Thank you RoseRodent and others for your considereate and measured responses in this post they have helped me a great deal in my thinking about an issue I have at the moment.

[maggiemay]

Well said Carol. Experience has taught me that knowing what works for us and our own particular set-up means that it filters through beneficially to the students we do take on.