Target population It is estimated that there are approximately 500,000 Australians who are vision impaired including 50,000 who are blind, 4,000 of whom have a form of deafblindness. The total is estimated to increase to nearly 800,000 by 2024. Based on the number of students receiving support due to their disability, it is estimated that there are in excess of 3,000 students of school age who are blind or vision impaired, of whom 70% are likely to have additional disabilities. Environment ABF strongly supports the view that every person in Australia has the fundamental right to live as independently as possible within the community. DISABILITY STANDARDS FOR EDUCATION 2005 In 2005, the Government introduced the Disability Standards for Education 2005. The Government says the Standards the obligations of education and training ‘clarify providers and seek to ensure that students with disability can access and participate in education on the same basis as other students’. The Standards were formulated under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and came into effect in August 2005. The Standards are required to be reviewed every five years and, as such, the Standards were reviewed in 2010 and 2015. The 2015 Review stated that progress had been made since the 2010 Review in raising awareness of the Standards with educators through various initiatives and resources. The Government issued an initial response to the 2015 Review in December 2015 stating: Whilst there has been significant improvement in the accessibility and use of the Standards since 2010, it is evident that further effort and resources are still required in order to support the use, application and interpretation of the Standards in practice. The recommendations from the 2015 Review outline key areas for improvement across all levels of education to better improve knowledge of and implementation of the Standards were Standards…The designed to clarify the rights of students with disability and obligations of education providers under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992. Whilst progress has been made since 2010 in educator awareness and understanding, further work is required to ensure that students, parents and carers are fully informed and aware of their rights. A formal and final Australian Government response to the 2015 Review has not yet been provided to outline the actions it will take to implement the recommendations of the 2015 Review. ABF looks forward to a final response from Government and for the recommendations in the 2015 Review being implemented to ensure all students with disability can access and participate in education on the same basis as other students. In particular, it is imperative that students with disability can access
Target population It is estimated that there are approximately 500,000 Australians who are vision impaired including 50,000 who are blind, 4,000 of whom have a form of deafblindness. The total is estimated to increase to nearly 800,000 by 2024. Based on the number of students receiving support due to their disability, it is estimated that there are in excess of 3,000 students of school age who are blind or vision impaired, of whom 70% are likely to have additional disabilities. Environment ABF strongly supports the view that every person in Australia has the fundamental right to live as independently as possible within the community. DISABILITY STANDARDS FOR EDUCATION 2005 In 2005, the Government introduced the Disability Standards for Education 2005. The Government says the Standards ‘clarify the obligations of education and training providers and seek to ensure that students with disability can access and participate in education on the same basis as other students’. The Standards were formulated under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and came into effect in August 2005. The Standards are required to be reviewed every five years and, as such, the Standards were reviewed in 2010 and 2015. The 2015 Review stated that progress had been made since the 2010 Review in raising awareness of the Standards with educators through various initiatives and resources. The Government issued an initial response to the 2015 Review in December 2015 stating: Whilst there has been significant improvement in the accessibility and use of the Standards since 2010, it is evident that further effort and resources are still required in order to support the use, application and interpretation of the Standards in practice. The recommendations from the 2015 Review outline key areas for improvement across all levels of education to better improve knowledge of and implementation of the Standards…The Standards were designed to clarify the rights of students with disability and obligations of education providers under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992. Whilst progress has been made since 2010 in educator awareness and understanding, further work is required to ensure that students, parents and carers are fully informed and aware of their rights. A formal and final Australian Government response to the 2015 Review has not yet been provided to outline the actions it will take to implement the recommendations of the 2015 Review. ABF looks forward to a final response from Government and for the recommendations in the 2015 Review being implemented to ensure all students with disability can access and participate in education on the same basis as other students. In particular, it is imperative that students with disability can access