This government keeps showing a lack of care for disabled children
This government keeps showing a lack of care for disabled children
The Associate Education Minister is setting up disabled learners to be excluded from school
The CE for Rare Disorders NZ received the following from the Associate Minister of Education this week. It is full of the usual double speak and contains some worrying fishhooks for the future for disabled children.
Before I get into the worrisome implications outlined in the letter, a wee reminder about human rights in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Firstly, the Bill of Rights Act (BORA), 1990. This Act states that everyone has the right to be free from discrimination from government and state officials, including with regards to education and on the grounds of disability.
Secondly, international conventions. Aotearoa New Zealand is a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRoC), the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Persons (UNDRIP). These conventions are clear about the rights of disabled children to an inclusive education. As a signatory, governments are required to undertake all appropriate legislative, administrative, and other measures for the implementation of the rights recognized in the following conventions.
Of interest to education are the following articles:
UNCRPD. Article 9: Accessibility and Article 24: Education. These articles recognize the right of disabled children to reasonable accommodations, accessible education, and the right of disabled children to learn life and social development skills to facilitate their full and equal participation in education and as members of the community,
UNDRIP. Article 21 states that Indigenous peoples/persons with disabilities have the right to full and effective participation in all aspects of life. Article 14: Right to Education requires accessibility in terms of physical environments, access to facilities and services, and the right to establish and control their educational systems and institutions providing education in their own languages.
UNCRoC Article 23 recognizes that a mentally or physically disabled child should enjoy a full and decent life, in conditions which ensure dignity, promote self-reliance, and facilitate the child's active participation in the community. This includes access to dignifying forms of education and training, preparation for employment, and recreation opportunities.
Thirdly, cross government strategies. These includes the following:
NZ Disability Strategy (2016-2026). This is the Government’s primary vehicle for implementing the UNCRPD and includes the NZ Disability Action Plan. Outcome 1: Education states:
We get an excellent education and achieve our potential throughout our lives.
Our learning pathway supports us to develop friendships and social skills, as well as resilience, determination and confidence. It gives us a sense of belonging, builds our identity and language skills and prepares us for life beyond compulsory education.
Education is provided in a way that supports our personal, academic and social development, both in and out of the formal schooling system.
Information will be made available at the right time to those who support us, both when we are young or for those of us who need on-going support. This will help us succeed – whatever our individual education pathway may look like.
Enabling Good Lives Principles. This set of principles was developed by and for disabled people. There are 8 principles, the following are particularly relevant:
Ordinary life outcomes: Disabled people are supported to live an everyday life in everyday places; and are regarded as citizens with opportunities for learning, employment, having a home and family, and social participation - like others at similar stages of life.
Mainstream first: Disabled people are supported to access mainstream services before specialist disability services.
There is a clear theme across all of these documents: inclusion, self-determination, and equitable access to opportunities.
We know from the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State Care that segregating disabled people and isolating them away from family and society creates conditions for abuse.
Back to the letter from the Associate Minister of Education.
The STAR framework was clearly not designed in conjunction with disabled learners and their families. This framework does not support inclusion or self-determination of disabled learners and their families.
The response by the Associate Minister shows limited understanding of the realities on the ground for disabled and medically fragile children. It sets up disabled children to be excluded from their local school and puts increasing amounts of pressure on families and schools:
NO exemptions for medical or disability related needs
ALL absences to be investigated (even those that are justified)
NO allowance for disability or medical needs
ISOLATES disabled learners from their communities
Having to undertake an investigation every. single. time places additional administrative burden on teachers and school staff, with no real-world positive impact on disabled learners and school communities. It also contributes to the administration burden on parents and the exclusion and discrimination that disabled learners and families face.
There are wait lists across the country for health schools and specialist schools. South Auckland alone has a wait list of 300 pupils. Segregating disabled learners from their communities is not an inclusive education.
What is an inclusive education?
Inclusive education is a fundamental human right for every child with a disability. An inclusive education system is one that accommodates all students whatever their abilities or requirements, and at all levels – pre-school, primary, secondary, tertiary, vocational, and life-long learning.
There are 4 ‘levels’ of education accessibility:
Exclusion: students with disabilities are denied access to education in any form.
Segregation: education of students with disabilities is provided in separate environments designed specifically and only for disabilities, and in isolation from students without disabilities.
Integration: placing students with disabilities in mainstream educational institutions without adaptation and requiring the student to fit in.
Inclusion: education environments that adapt the design and physical structures, teaching methods, and curriculum as well as the culture, policy and practice of education environments so that they are accessible to all students without discrimination.
When disabled learners receive a quality, inclusive education they are more likely to achieve outcomes such as completing secondary schooling and going on to further study and employment. There are a number of flow-on benefits from this, for the individual, for employers, and for society in general.
It seems that disabled learners will not be getting this under the current government.