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What are the Disability Standards for Education and how can they help me?
The Disability Standards for Education are actually part of the law, so that's one important
thing to realise. And they actually set out a process and areas, which is a guideline
for education providers, and for people with disabilities, as to the processes that one
should follow when one is coming to a decision about what reasonable adjustments somebody
should have given to them. And it also sets out some areas in which these reasonable adjustments
can be made. So for example, a student with a disability and their right to enrolment.
Their right to participate fully in their education. Their rights in relation to accreditation,
curriculum, examination - and the sort of support services that they might want to receive
and should be receiving. And again, how that process occurs and how those decisions are
made is set out quite clearly. So the Disability Standards for Education are quite helpful
to education providers and students.
The term 'reasonable adjustment' is an interesting phrase, because it means different things
to different people. But the general concept of what a reasonable adjustment is, is an
adjustment which balances up a number of factors. One of those factors might be cost, another
factor might be the trouble that it takes to provide the adjustment, when a simpler
adjustment could be made, but the person with a disability's needs are still met. I think
the important thing for a student with a disability to remember is that in the ed, whatever the
adjustment is, and whoever decides whether it is reasonable or not, the adjustment must
allow them to participate in their education on an equal basis. So that is the over-riding
objective of the act and the Disability Standards. And so that is the most important thing about
an adjustment. But people will have arguments about this, there is no doubt.
For more information, visit the Youth Disability Rights Hub at www.youthdisabilityrights.org.au.
Please note: Julie Phillips is not a lawyer, and the information in this video is not legal
advice. All of the information provided is for general educational purposes only.