A Greens Senator and prominent disability advocate has described a proposed 30-year phase-out of separate schools for students with disabilities as “wildly inadequate”, calling for the deadline to be brought up from the early 2050s to 2030.
WA Senator Jordan Steele-John told reporters that it is “not acceptable” for another generation of children to be educated in segregated classrooms or schools.
“To put [that deadline] in perspective, that would mean a disabled child born today would be likely…educated in a separate, segregated setting,” he said.
“That is lonely, that is abusive, that is unacceptable.”
Senator Jordon Steele-John is a prominent spokesperson and advocate for people with a disability. Source: AAP
Disability Royal Commission releases 'disturbing' report
The remarks come .
Commissioners were unable to come to a consensus on how to phase out segregated education.
Three of the commissioners recommended that it be phased out by the year 2052, while others believed phasing out was unnecessary.
Education Minister Jason Clare said the division between commissioners shows that it is even more crucial to get the decisions right.
“We need to make sure that children get the sort of education that they need, and there’s a lot that we do at the moment in providing that support for students,” Clare said.
Steele-John added that desegregation for the disability community is also needed in workplace settings.
“There must be a reality in Australia where disabled people are paid a fair pay for a fair day’s work,” he said.
“There shouldn’t be a caveat on the minimum wage that says ‘except for disabled people’.”
After more than four years of hearings, the Royal Commission handed down more than 200 recommendations to improve the disability sector.
A federal task force has been established to examine the recommendations and how they might be implemented.
