Dear Disability Discrimination Act Review Committee,
I am a Visual Artist who worked for some years in various jobs at Access Arts, The Salvation Army Adult Daycare Centre and the Cerebral Palsy League facilitating art workshops for people living with disability. I am a mother of 3 and an aunty of 3 kids who are living with disability. I am
appauled and saddened by stories about how is repeatedly excluded from
school because the school deem him too difficult to deal with. He’s a lovely kid with a big heart and a right to an education, just like everyone else.
Kids facing the challenges of living with a disability already feel on the outer which can significantly affect their confidence and self esteem. The worst possible thing for them is to be further excluded by the very people that should be advocating for and encouraging them to build that confidence in their lives.
My understanding was that the whole point of the NDIS was to integrate people living with disabilities to be able to be a part of their wider community with appropriate supports in place to achieve this. I believe that this is important, not just for people living with a disability, but also for the wider community to learn to accomodate the needs of those more vulnerable within our society and this should absolutely begin in childcare and continue on through to tertiary education.
I’m making this submission because I believe every student deserves the right to learn in an inclusive environment. I absolutely support the A Right to Learn campaign’s call for suspensions and exclusions to be used only as a last resort.
Students with disability should be learning alongside their peers, not separated from them. Education is about building confidence, self worth, peer networks and learning resilience and tolerance as much as it is about memorising information about a variety of subjects.
Protect the right to learn:
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Section 22(2)(b) of the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth) should be amended to cover ‘suspension and exclusion’ as well as expulsions.
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The Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth) and associated Disability Standards for Education should be amended to require education authorities avoid exclusionary discipline unless it is necessary as a last resort to avert serious harm to the student, other students, or staff.
I urge the government to strengthen the Act so students with disability — and all students — can fully exercise their right to learn, together.
Yours sincerely,