Students with disability

Students with disability have a range of abilities and needs. Schools need to provide adjustments to teaching, learning and assessment activities for some students with disability.

The Disability Standards for Education 2005 describe the legislative requirements of schools to support students with disability to equitably access and participate in education. Under these Standards, schools have an obligation to provide reasonable adjustments. Adjustments are determined based on the functional impact of the disability on the student’s learning, rather than a particular diagnosis of disability. Adjustments should be decided through the collaborative curriculum planning process.

In the legislation, ‘disability’ includes a wide range of health and learning conditions.

The Disability Discrimination Act 1992 defines disability as:

• total or partial loss of the person's bodily or mental functions
• total or partial loss of a part of the body
• the presence in the body of organisms causing disease or illness
• the presence in the body of organisms capable of causing disease or illness
• the malfunction, malformation or disfigurement of a part of the person's body
• a disorder or malfunction that results in the person learning differently from a person without the disorder or malfunction
• a disorder, illness or disease that:
  • affects a person's thought processes, perception of reality, emotions, judgment
  • results in disturbed behaviour.

and includes a disability that:

• presently exists; or
• previously existed but no longer exists; or
• may exist in the future (including because of a genetic predisposition to that disability); or
• is imputed to a person.

To impute a disability, the school must have reasonable evidence that a student’s learning is impacted by disability. A student whose learning is affected by other factors, such as school attendance, proficiency with the English language, or disrupted schooling, would not be considered as having a disability.

Examples of disability include:

• difficulties acquiring and developing literacy skills
• difficulties acquiring and developing numeracy skills
• learning difficulties or disabilities such as dyslexia, dysgraphia and dyscalculia
• intellectual disabilities
• mental illness
• emotional and behavioural disturbances
• Autism Spectrum Disorder
• sensory impairment
• physical disabilities such as cerebral palsy
• speech and language disorders
• chronic illness such as chronic fatigue syndrome.

More information

Australian Government fact sheet: The DDA

Australian Government fact sheet: The Standards

Disability Standards for Education 2005

Definitions of disability and the NCCD categories