Article 24(2) prohibits the exclusion of students with disability from mainstream education on the basis of disability. However, some students with disability continue to be placed in ‘special schools’ throughout Australia despite the fact the educational and economic outcomes for students with disability who attend special schools are lower than the outcomes for students who receive inclusive mainstream education.463
The segregation of students with disability into special schools is increasingly becoming normalised and the number of students being educated in special schools is rising. For example, in 1992, there were 820 students in New South Wales special schools, but by 2008 this figure had risen to 3,178,464 which equates to around 31 percent of all students with disability in New South Wales.465 This appears to be driven more by a failure of mainstream schools to provide a welcoming and fully inclusive educational experience than a belief that special schools provide better educational prospects.466
Students attending special schools tend to progress to segregated services in adulthood at a much higher rate than those who attend a mainstream school.467
In rural and remote areas there are significant difficulties in participating in mainstream education due to the lack of accessible transport, school facilities, skilled teachers and resources. While there may be some provision for ‘outreach’ support to teachers in these areas and ‘outreach clinics’, where teachers or support services visit children and young people with disability in these areas, this is not consistent, or equivalent to the mainstream curriculum and it does not address the lack of social interaction with other children.468 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with disability are particularly likely to experience this situation.
Case Study
Children and young people of high school age living on the outer islands of the Thursday Islands will go to school on Thursday Island. They leave their home to board at one of two boarding colleges on Thursday Island. This is not a possibility for children and young people with disability as there are no accessible and inclusive colleges. Children and young people with disability have to stay home with their family and are visited on a rotational basis by a ‘special needs’ teacher. This leaves children and young people with disability in the outer island communities with little or no social interaction with people their own age.
