Lived Experience Forum

[Yep]

It was always going to be a challenge to support my neurotypical children in high school.  Why should it be any less challenging then when I was a student.  The first issue was determining the school that would suit my children alongside supporting my Aspie parenting needs.   The school that would best suit these considerations needed some guidance.

I asked an educational psychologist after an assessment of me and my children's personal styles.  I was found I had two very different children.  Th eldest was effervescent and the other cautious and guarded.  The educational psychologist informed me that there was only one school that would meet my criteria and the personal styles of my children.  It is a zoned school and  I was outside the zone.  After checking this by visiting both our neighbourhood school and the zoned school, the psychologist was correct.

I made an out of zone application to the school suggested by the psychologist and was rejected.  I made an appeal to the school with medical certificates and evidences yet was rejected again.  I made a formal appeal to the region and was accepted under special circumstances as a resonable adjustment for disability.

The argument was that the nearest neighbourhood school for my family was not based on physical distance, rather accessability modifies the departments test determined by disability reasonable adjustment.  The school in question was unable to conceptualise that they had to comply with the legislation.  "The Disability Discrimination Act 1992 protects individuals across Australia from unfair treatment in many parts of public life. The Act makes disability discrimination unlawful and promotes equal rights, equal opportunity and equal access for people with disabilities" (https://www.humanrights.gov.au/our-work/disability-rights/about-disability-rights).

The determination by regional appeal was interesting as they had not considered that the neighbourhood school policy may be descriminatory in light of disability.  There are two parts to the test.  First a student may be descriminated against by the neighbourhood school policy when it is inaccessable.  Secondly, if the parent can not parent when associated with a particular school due to its characteristics, then that may be grounds for discrimination towards the student by association with the disabled parent.

Accessability was a contested idea.  The department goes to great lengths for all schools to meet minimum standards.  However, the psychologist and reports in the media had different views of what those minimum standards may be in practice.  Some very diplomatic medical reports implying certain characteristics about some schools brought out some home truths the department did not want to know about.

In the end the first hurdle was complete.  The process was unsettling, I had to disclose much private medical information to the school that my children will attend.  This created a potential expectation by the school that I was going to be trouble hence potentially labelling me and my family.  This was a reasonable fear as in time it bore out to be true in practice.

The other concern is how this appeals process is inaccessable to parents without an advocate.  I could not envisage that all disabled parents are personally or economically resourced to find a way through such adversarial processes.  It requires legislative protections pieced together with education policy knowledge.  This needs to be articulated in written form with compelling evidentiary requirements.  Such submissions command high level conceptual ability often only aquired through significant education and experience.

[CheerBear]

Hi @Yep. It's nice to 'meet you.

I read your post and very much appreciated hearing how hard you have worked to find the most suitable school for your family. You've really put in a lot of effort and obviously have a great deal of determination. I'm sorry to hear your fear about you and your family being labelled as trouble, has ended up being true. Are your children still at school/at the same school?

Although it is a little different, last year I had a similar fight to find a school that would be suitable for my child when moving from primary to high school. Many if not all of the schools within any kind of reasonable travelling distance are zoned and our local school was not going to work for us. It was very stressful to work out how I was going to give my child (and then their siblings who would follow in the future) a good start and the best chance of making it through in a way that would work for them. We found a way in the end, but it required a lot of effort from both myself and my child. It was a tough time.

I can relate to your concern about processes being inaccessible and very difficult for people who don't have the resources or knowledge to work through them with much success. I see that in a lot of the systems we have to deal with.

I wanted to reply mostly to say a huge well done to you for everything you managed to do and that I hear your concerns and am with you.

[Yep]

Hi Cheerbear,
I am glad we are with each other and I am sure there will be many others. It is a fight for fairness in a system that is complicated and constructed historically through conservative institutions based on Colonialism. Those systems are connected to politics and power thus represent the interests of the few. What better way to control the masses than through the values embedded within the education system. This includes access, processes, rules, content and social interactions.

I had the fortunate experience of travelling to Burma last year to study. Burma is based on control by manipulating the access and content of the educational system. In summary, it denies critical thinking and teaches compliance to the dogma of a military junta. The end results is a society that supports a regime of human rights abuses.

So how does this relate to our fight with access to schools. Firstly the disability community is not a majority threat to the powers so does not appear greatly on the radar. Secondly the commitment to Human Rights in this country is seen as an unwelcome complication to the political system due to Australia’s need to be engaged internationally. We only need to examine the indigenous war and ongoing resistance and our treatment of refugees and asylum seekers.

In this climate, the only way to ensure Disability Rights are enforced is to raise a voice from our minority. This Aspie is trying however I am a single voice. I am still investigating how best to combine with other voices. An important idea the Disability community needs to recognise is that diversity is our strength. The Aspie community for instance generally consists of the key innovators in society. Our Aspie brains often place our intellect in the top percent of the community. When combined with good leadership, the Aspie community will outthink the neurotypicals and may form the vanguard of the Disability community. Other disabled have overcome incredible odds and the shear resilience in this group can be a phenomenal force to be reckoned with. If you consider the large representation of the prison community who have disability then the group takes on an even greater force. Add the indigenous who are struggling. Combined and channelled in the right way, the Disability community can be strong and self-reliant.

I am sorry that you experienced a difficult and compromised solution. I was lucky that I was able to traverse the system and connect with the right people who are often quite hidden. There are people who have a human rights conscience and may be able to pull some levers in the process. The need is a combined accessible knowledge on how to do this in the Disability community. The barrier is the community is poorly resourced and that is a direct reflection of what I wrote about previously regarding control.

My eldest is in the zoned school. The relationship I have with the school has soured. I have a neurotypicals spouse who will handle things. She has been doing this a long time now and has developed skill.

[Appleblossom]

School relationships are complex and ongoing. Good your wife has that covered. Try and ride out some of the issues.

 @Yep 

Gotta love aspie thoroughness. 

Your post about social justice being more than discussing indigenous or refugee policies was important for many reasons.