Work Integrated Learning and students with disability (or diverse abilities)

1. Work Integrated Learning and students with disability (or diverse abilities) Helen Larkin School of Health & Social Development With acknowledgment to: Merrin McCracken(Equity and Diversity Unit) Valerie Watchorn(School of Health & Social Development) Teaching Diverse Students A Deakin University Teaching Learning Forum Tuesday 17th April 2012

2. Matt Laffan

4. Fiona Smith

7. People with disability in 2009: • 54% of working age people with disability participated in the workforce compared with 83% of people without disability • Of the five disability groups (sensory, intellectual, physical, psychological and acquired brain injury) 71% of working age people with disability had physical disability • 38% of 15-24 year olds with disability were “fully engaged” compared with 56% of young people without disability www.abs.gov.au/socialtrends

8. Health Condition (Disorder or Disease) Body Functions & Structure Activity Participation Environmental Factors Personal Factors (Contextual Factors) World Health Organization (2001) The International Classification of Functioning Disability and Health

9. On or off campus student experiences: • A relatively flexible and controlled environment • Student services and support • Obligations under the Disability Discrimination Act (1992) • Deakin’s Disability Action Plan • Capacity for special consideration and extensions • A student-centred approach that acknowledges students’ own knowledge about what works best • DDA separates opportunity for education and employment

10. The student experience on WIL: • Inaccessibility of work places and spaces • Direct and indirect discrimination • Placement Participation Assistants • Assistance with personal care tasks and placement support • Recruitment and training of support staff • Transport • Fatigue factors • No “extensions or special consideration” • Other accommodations (part time, breaks) • Increased disclosure / incidence of mental health conditions

11. Challenges in the workplace: • Defining the role of the assistant • Workplaces defining the expectations • Physical size of work spaces • Confidentiality issues • The need for the student to train, supervise and manage an assistant in a workplace where they are learning how to manage their own work and role, in a workplace they are not familiar with • Pace and expectations of the workplace

12. Challenges for universities: • Inequitable funding for work integrated learning • WIL is under-recognised in workload models • Supporting students with disabilities in WIL is not adequately recognised • Relationship between inherent requirements and registration boards • Retention and completion

13. Opportunities: • For creating greater community capacity • Modelling what we preach in our own workplace • Student centred approach and good pedagogy • Matching student needs to those of agencies • The use of “trials” • Placement networks • Consideration and explicit recognition in our formal WIL partnerships and agency agreements

14. Matt Laffan Memorial Address Graeme Innes AMSydney University Law School 23 June 2009 Rene Cassin, a great human rights lawyer and one of the drafters of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, pointed out during the drafting that: "it would be deceiving the peoples of the world to let them think that a legal provision was all that was required ... when in fact an entire social structure had to be transformed". In order to achieve that sustainable community which I talked about at the beginning of this lecture, we all need to take on the responsibility of removing barriers, and including people with disability.