Children with a disability are being left behind by the education revolution, according to the patron of a national disability organisation.
“It is still possible for a child with a disability in this country to leave school without the ability to read or write,” Dr Rhonda Galbally said today.
“Children with a disability lag behind on a whole range of indicators – yet very little progress has been made in closing
the gap. “The statistics are outrageous – but where is the outrage?” she said.
Dr Galbally made her remarks during an address to the National Press Club in Canberra today.
A long time campaigner for disability rights, Dr Galbally is the patron of the National Disability and Carer Alliance and is Chair of the National People with Disabilities and Carer Council.
During her address Dr Galbally presented material from Shut Out: The Experience of People with Disabilities and their
Families in Australia, a report recently released by the National People with Disabilities and Carer Council.
Shut Out is the product of extensive consultations across the country with people with a disability, their families, friends and carers. It is the first comprehensive picture of what contemporary life is like for people with a disability in this country.
The report details the discrimination and exclusion experienced by people with a disability and the multiple barriers they face in accessing employment, education, housing, health care and recreation.
Dr Galbally also used her address to add her support to the growing campaign for a National Disability Insurance
Scheme.
Dr Galbally said the introduction of such a scheme would provide government with a responsible economic solution to
the funding crisis which confronted them. At the same time it would ensure people with a disability, their families and
carers had the support and resources they needed to become full participants in the economic, social and cultural life of the nation.
“A National Disability Insurance Scheme would enable people with a disability to finally get what they need when they
need it to participate more fully in the life of the community,” she said.

Dr Galbally will present evidence from Shut Out – a report recently released by the National People with Disabilities and Carer Council. Shut Out provides the first comprehensive picture of what contemporary life is like for Australians with a disability and their families. The report is the result of an extensive Australia-wide consultation which asked people with a disability and their families what their lives were like and, most importantly, what they would like their lives to be like. As a result of this consultation process, the report is alive with the voices and stories of hundreds of Australians.

Shut Out is a damning indictment of the discrimination and exclusion experienced daily by many people with a disability and their families. Shut Out exposes a national disgrace for Australia – one of the wealthiest and most liveable nations in the world; a country where people with a disability find themselves shut out. Shut out of schools, shut out of jobs, shut out of housing, shut out of health care, shut out of community groups. Shut out of anything like a fair go – shut out of the Australian way of life.

Shut Out demonstrates that people with a disability face barriers, discrimination and disastrous government policy effecting every aspect of their daily lives. Children prevented from attending local childcare, kindergartens and schools; children with disabilities not learning to read or write. Qualified candidates for jobs screened out and rejected because of their disability. People unable to access public transport, buildings and activities such as shopping, going to the movies and eating in a café. Kids with disabilities excluded from local sporting groups and recreational clubs.

Shut Out is a shocking indictment showing that governments at all levels – national, states and local – are failing to provide people with the support, access and resources they need to meaningfully participate in and contribute to the community. And the failure of the system means that families are forced to fill the gaps – with dire financial and personal stress sometimes resulting in terrible tragedy and consistently leading to personal misery and deprivation.

Solutions: Major reform Agenda for Australia
Because the system is broke and broken, people with a disability confront barriers in every aspect of their daily lives. Fundamental reform is essential. A whole-of-government, whole-of-life National Disability Strategy is essential to ensure coordinated reform across jurisdictions and between all levels of government. Dr Galbally will challenge governments to look beyond band aid solutions. She will show how resources are not keeping pace with demand. People are not getting what they need now and the situation will only get worse in the future as the numbers of people with a disability increase with the number of informal carers declining.

Dr Galbally will call for fundamental reform and will outline a new approach that would be equitable and efficient, ensuring that people have every opportunity to fulfil their potential. A system that gets us from our current welfare charitable  approach where desperate people have to beg, to a system that looks at what people need and delivers it to them with timeliness and adequacy so that they can lead ordinary lives.

Dr Galbally will outline details about the central plank of a major reform agenda – a National Disability Insurance Scheme – a social reform on a par with the introduction of Medicare and compulsory superannuation – two far reaching reforms that we now simply take for granted.  She will explore the benefits of a risk mitigation model that emphasises early intervention and forces reform in complimentary systems such as education, transport and, housing, health and building codes. Dr Galbally will conclude by discussing  the major questions that need to be examined and resolved by a major government feasibility study into a national disability insurance Scheme for Australia.

Australia needs a new national plan to care for and support people needing care, including people with a disability, the CEO of Carers Australia, Ms Joan Hughes, said yesterday.
She said issues involving helping those who needed care went much wider than people with a disability alone. Her comments follow statements by a long time campaigner for disability rights, Dr Rhonda Galbally, on a government report on families and those with disability. [ 7 Oct ]
Australia has some 2.6 million carers. They support family members and friends who have a disability, mental illness, chronic condition, terminal illness or who are frail.
“Dr Galbally was correct to point out the flaws in education offered to children with a disability and the lag in the education revolution reaching them,” Ms Hughes said.
“We support a national disability insurance scheme but with a slightly broader focus. We need a scheme that incorporates all those needing care and their carers too.
“We need a National Care and Support Scheme which provides for both people with a disability and those needing care, but a comprehensive plan that also includes the carers themselves.”
Recent studies, such as the National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling (Oct 2008) report, showed that carers were consistently financially disadvantaged by caring. Consequently, many carers are obliged to return to work to top up their retirement income.
“What we are lacking is a national, co-ordinated plan to look after carers and those they care for,” Ms Hughes said.
“Research shows that carers, especially female carers, have consistently poor financial outcomes.
“Carers are sacrificing their future in order to care for someone, often a spouse or child, who would otherwise require more comprehensive care and possibly full-time residential care.”
A co-ordinated, national program would include a National Care and Support Scheme but would also provide national leadership on issues such as caring, disability and superannuation coverage for carers.
“Leadership is essential to ensure that enough is being done and that what is done is well-directed,” Ms Hughes said.
“The National Disability and Carer Alliance, of which we are part, combines several peak bodies and other groups and we’re an obvious choice for inclusion in that leadership team.
“Priorities in the health system cannot be allowed to drift aimlessly. We need to recognise the challenges that exist and ensure we tackle them.”
Contacts: Alison Kemmis, 02 6122 9917 or 0417 604 305