Geelong’s youth fighting for disability inclusion at school

PASSIONATE locals are fighting for greater disability inclusion across Victorian high schools with the issue set to go before state ministers.

The Y Geelong’s youth parliamentary team comprising five inspiring young people aged between 16 and 23 were last week successful in passing their bill titled “Disability Inclusion in Victorian Secondary Education”, which now has the potential to create real change through state legislation.

The bill is calling for mandatory disability education for both students and teachers, including course testing for educators with a passing score of 90 per cent or higher.

“In the current education system, students with high need disabilities are encouraged to attend specialist schools, while mainstream schools encourage students to formulate disability plans without a comprehensive understanding of different disabilities,” the bill states.

“This has been shown to be detrimental to the mental and physical health of students with disabilities, and withdrawal rates are shown to be twice as high as that of general education students.”

Youth Parliament ran by YMCA Youth Services is designed to give young people the chance to be heard by the Victorian Government on state issues.

Each team is supported in writing a Bill, that is then introduced into Youth Parliament and debated with the successful bills forwarded to relevant state MPs.

Resource manager Alisha Nurnaitis said the team was inspired by the lived experiences of some members.

“We had a couple of people with disabilities in our group who felt there was a lack of education in the schooling system and wider community, so they really led the charge,” she said.

Ms Nurnaitis said the team were spending up to 20 hours a week preparing the bill and writing speeches, before defending it in parliament.

“The Bill passed really well, out of everyone in the room only one person said no, that was one of the best passes they had all day,” she said.

“It is an incredible experience, the amount that you learn and the amount of opportunities that come from it … to be able to stand up and defend something you have spent months writing and have the potential for that to go further is amazing.”

The Y Geelong’s Bill proposes the establishment of the Disability Education Victoria Board (DEVB) to facilitate policies across all state government secondary schools, with more than half of the board’s ten members to be living with a disability, while remaining members would compromise of secondary school educators.

The Bill also calls for a Youth Advisory Group compromising of ten young Victorians aged between 14 and 24 with a diverse range of backgrounds and disabilities to assist the DEVB.

Education Minister Natalie Hutchins, who is due to receive the bill, said she was thrilled to see young people engaged with such important issues.

“Everyone deserves to be able to fully participate in school – and it is encouraging to see our Youth Parliament focus on students with additional needs being given tools and supports to be their best.”