Societal expectations and attitudes around people with disability when it comes to education, work, housing and participation in community aren’t great.
Start with schooling: according to the NSW Auditor General, one in four students still experience exclusion and/or rejection from mainstream education (2016).
Children and Young People with Disability Australia reports that 67% of students with disability do not receive adequate support, 52% have been bullied (compared to 27% of the general student population), 34% have been excluded from school events (such as camps, discos and formals), 19% have been restrained at school (physically, mechanically and/or chemically), 19% have experienced seclusion at school. 12% only attend part time and 8% have been refused enrolment.
There is no social expectation that people with disability will seek employment or that they will thrive in employment. The continuance of low-paid ‘Disability Enterprises’ (sheltered workshops), employment congregation and discrimination in the workplace present serious barriers to people with disability seeking employment and maintaining equal access to all employment opportunities.
Finally, abuse in services, schools and living arrangements is shockingly common. The NSW Ombudsman has recently revealed that since January 2014, there have been 400 reviewable deaths of people with disability in NSW. Between December 2015 and March 2017 there were 1408 reportable incidents (including physical assault, sexual assault, neglect and fraud). Of reported incidents, 663 were made against an employee of a disability service, 522 were made between two people with disability accessing the same service and over 22 were unexplained serious injury.