- Human Rights
- Discrimination
- What is the Disability Discrimination Act (1992)?
- What are the Education Standards (2005)?
- What is the Equal Opportunity Act (1995)?
- What are my Rights? What are my Responsibilities?
- What are the Rights and Responsibilities of the TAFE institiute or University?
Human Rights
In Australia, everyone is allowed to enjoy a life where they are treated in the same way as everyone else and are valued and looked after. This is called human rights.
Human rights are important so that everyone feels and is a part of the Australian community. Human rights are important to every person:
- man or woman
- young or old
- rich or poor
We all have the right to live together as a community and we can do that by accepting other people whether they are from a different country, young, old, have a disability, are male or female, are married or single.
We are not allowed to stop someone from living in the community. When someone or some people stop us from living in our community or make us feel frightened or humiliated this is called discrimination.
Discrimination
Discrimination is when someone is treated badly by others during their life because they are seen as different from most people in the community.
Most people in Australia are born here and they have following background:
- they speak English,
- they are white,
- they do not have a disability, and
- they cannot speak a different language (e.g. Italian or Auslan)
If a person is unable to participate in the same way as others in areas such as employment, access to buildings, goods or services, cannot get housing or accommodation they may have been discriminated against. In Australia the following laws make sure that this does not happen:
- Age Discrimination Act 2004
- Disability Discrimination Act 1992
- Racial Discrimination Act 1975
- Sex Discrimination Act 1984
- Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Act 1984
The Centre of Excellence for Students of Deaf and Hard of Hearing encourages deaf and hard of hearing people, their families and friends to become familiar with the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and the Disability Standards on Education (2005).
What is the Disability Discrimination Act (1992)?
The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) makes it against the law to make things hard for you because of your disability (i.e. because you are deaf). The law also makes sure that people who are your friends, relatives or carers also are not treated unfairly because of your disability.
Areas that the Disability Discrimination Act (1992) covers are:
- Employment
- Education
- Where you live
- Goods and services
- Harassment
If you would like more information on the DDA, please go to the website of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission.
What are the Education Standards (2005)?
The last section talked about how the DDA covers disability discrimination in education. It is the law that universities and TAFE institutes must follow when there are students with disabilities and deaf students studying in their institute.
The DDA makes it against the law for any TAFE institute or university to discriminate against a student with a disability.
This law has a general explanation of why people with disabilities should be able to get the right access to education. But the law did not tell you how to do it. So, in 2005, another law called the Disability Standards on Education 2005 (the Education Standards) help education organisations (pre schools, kindergartens, public and private schools, public TAFE institutes, universities, and private registered training organisations) to know what they must do to make sure people with disabilities can study at their organisation. This law covers the following areas:
Enrolment - This area covers things such as calling a TAFE or university to ask about a course that you are interested in and maybe attending an information session about this course or filling out the enrolment form.
Participation - This area involves making sure a person with a disability can be involved in all information sessions, orientation sessions, classes, excursions, etc. in the same way that any other student in that course.
Curriculum development, accreditation and delivery (teaching) - This covers areas like:
- the development of course curriculum (teaching materials used to teach a course),
- gaining a qualification; and
- the way the course is taught by a classroom teacher.
All these things must be accessible to people with a disability.
Harassment and Victimisation - Other students, teachers or other staff at an educational organisation cannot bully, harass or victimise a person with a disability.
If you, or someone you know has been discriminated against, click here to look at a website to find out what you can do.
What is the Equal Opportunity Act (1995)?
The Equal Opportunity Act is a Victorian law. Any TAFE or university in Victoria must follow this law. The law covers disability (including Deaf and hard of hearing people) and other kinds of discrimination like race, religion, etc.
It covers both direct and indirect discrimination. Both are against the law.
Direct discrimination happens when someone is treated less favourably or worse than others because of a disability. For example, you are told you cannot go to a TAFE because they do not accept deaf students.
Indirect discrimination happens when someone requires a something that you can't comply with because of your disability and that is unreasonable. For example, you use Auslan to communicate, but the teacher says you have to use your voice and speak your classroom presentation because "everyone has to, so that is fair".
The Equal Opportunity Act says that a person cannot be discriminated against because they are Deaf or hard of hearing. This law only applies in Victoria, not other states in Australia. Most other states in Australia have their own law about equal opportunity.
If you would like more information on the Victorian Equal Opportunity Act, please click here to go to their website.
What are my Rights? What are my Responsibilities?
A "right" is something that is given to us either morally or legally. This means that our community feels that something is important. Sometimes the community just "decides" to make something a right. This would be called a moral right. Sometimes the community decides that a law is needed to make sure you have your rights. This would be called a legal right.
Examples of a moral right are:
- telling the truth
- helping someone if they are in trouble
- being kind to animals
Examples of a legal right are:
- protection from being hit or abused
- ability to get your money back if something you buy doesn't work properly
- equal access to education, housing, recreation, etc.
In TAFE and university you have a number of rights. They include:
- the right to be accepted into a course if you meet the entrance requirements
- the right to the support you need to be able to do the course (like an interpreter, notetaker, tutor, lecturer/teacher's notes, etc.)
- the right to negotiate for extra time to do assignments and exams
- the right to be treated fairly and the same as hearing students
With all rights, you also have responsibilities. These include:
- the responsibility to explain what you need (usually to the Disability Liaison Officer)
- the responsibility to let the DLO know that you will not come to class and will not need your support services (such as interpreters, notetakers, participation assistants, etc.)
- the responsibility to take your studies seriously; for example, to ask for extra time for an assignment when you first are told about it, not the day before it is due
- the responsibility to look carefully at any situation before you decide that you are not being treated equally
What are the Rights and Responsibilities of the TAFE institute or University?
TAFEs and universities have a responsibility to:
- provide quality education
- provide access to their programs to all members of the community without discriminating
- provide support services to students who need them to allow for equal access
- provide a safe learning environment
TAFEs and universities have the right to:
- select the students they feel will successfully complete the course
- set work requirements
- expect students to learn and complete their courses
