Student hails disability victory

11.32.25am UTC (GMT +0000) Thu 22nd Mar 2007

A disabled student who won a lawsuit against a university for denying him wheelchair access at his graduation ceremony has welcomed the court ruling. Craig Potter, 28, studied at Canterbury Christchurch College, but was unable to access the stage during the ceremony held at Canterbury Cathedral in 2004.

He said the lack of a ramp meant he was not treated equally with his peers. Mr Potter was awarded £4,000 damages for injury to his feelings against the university by Canterbury County Court. He has cerebral palsy and has used a wheelchair all his life.

During the graduation ceremony, students mounted the stage to receive a symbolic handshake from the Chair of Governors, but Mr Potter had to receive a handshake at the bottom of the steps. At the time, the university said a ramp to get him on stage would have to have been 40ft long. It also said it had been told by the cathedral authorities that there were restrictions about putting a ramp up to the raised area, which was part of the medieval fabric of the building.

In a statement on Wednesday, it said it genuinely believed it had made appropriate arrangements for disabled students, but was now reviewing arrangements for future graduation ceremonies at the cathedral.

But Mr Potter, from Whitstable, said: "I was not treated on equal terms with my peers. I wanted to go up on that stage at Canterbury Cathedral like everyone else during my graduation and get my symbolic handshake. The judge agreed that this would have been possible and the university's failure to provide temporary ramps meant they discriminated against me as a disabled person."

Mr Potter added that the case had centred on his "lack of visibility and the symbolism of not being up on the stage".

He brought the case under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA), and it was funded by the Disability Rights Commission. Chairman Sir Bert Massie said what should have been a day to remember instead turned into "a moment of acute embarrassment and public exclusion. All universities need to plan well in advance the adjustments that need to be made for disabled students at degree ceremonies. These should not come as a surprise because these very same adjustments would need to have been made for disabled students throughout their time at university," he said.