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Young People with a Disability and Education
AYAC meets with the Minister for Youth Peter Garrett
In late July, Maia Giordano and Andrew Cummings from AYAC, along with young adult Bridie Hudson and George Taleporos from the Youth Disability Advocacy Service met with the Minister for Youth Peter Garrett on the issue of young people with disabilities and education. In that meeting, we discussed the findings of AYAC’s latest survey of 362 people that looked into how students with disabilities can be better supported by education providers and decision-makers.
Photo: Minster Peter Garrett (left) with Dr George Taleporos (middle) and Bridie Hudson (right) from the Youth Disability Advocacy Service
In our survey one young person said: “Personally, I was too sick to fight the bureaucracy. I was a relatively good advocate for myself but when I came up against organisational brick walls it was just too much work and energy required to fight. I shouldn't have to fight to get an education. I shouldn't have to fight for the simple things like using a laptop to write my own notes or for five minute breaks in an exam.”
Much greater support is urgently needed for students with disabilities across the whole Australian education system. We urged the Minister to follow a number of AYAC’s recommendations to progress this issue with state and territory education ministers and departments so that all young people - regardless of ability or disability - can access training and education.
You can download our letter to Minister Garrett here (PDF - 3mb) and view our report from the latest survey results here (PDF - 182kb)
AYAC has also been in contact with the Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills, Jobs and Workplace Relations, the Hon Chris Evans. You can also view our letter (click here - PDF 5mb) , and report (click here - PDF 179kb) for Minister Chris Evans.
Disability and Education follow-up survey
The Australian Youth Affairs Coalition (AYAC) recently conducted a survey on the Disability Standards for Education and these results were shared with to the Government. Since then, the Federal Government announced $200 million extra funding for school students with disabilities.
AYAC has met with the Minister for School Education and Youth to share your views and voice the concerns of young people with a disability and parents.
Review into the Disability Standards for Education:
Recently the Government called for a review into the Disability Standards for Education. The voices of young people with a disability are crucial in assessing the effectiveness of the Standards. AYAC, with support from the Youth Disability Advocacy Service, directly consulted with almost 400 young people with a disability (65%) via an online survey. We formulated the responses into 13 recommendations to the Government, outlined in our submission.
Read AYAC's submission on Disability Standards for Education:
Read the summary results of AYAC's previous survey on the Disability Standards:
Summary of the survey results in PDF or survey results in RTF or click here to view a video summarising some of the key findings: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvHKfMiJib0
After receiving such an overwhelming response, AYAC continues to work to advance the opinions, experiences, suggestions and comments we received.
AYAC has promoted the results of the survey to the media, via a media release and some video summaries (coming soon), focusing on the four key findings of the consultations.
You can read the full media release here, which focuses on the issue of bullying.
AYAC continues to work with ABC's Ramp Up to promote these findings, and is seeking to partner with key disability advocacy organisations.
Can YOU help AYAC to change the experience of young people with a disability?
Contact Maia Giordano on 02 9212 0500, or via email maia@ayac.org.au to find out how you can take action.
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