Keynote address: Creating Welcoming School Communities

Graeme Innes AM
Perth , 3 April 2009

I acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we meet today.

Good morning, and thanks for the chance to speak with you today.

26 years ago, on this day in 1973, the first call was made on a mobile phone other than a car phone, when Martin Cooper, a Motorola executive shocked New Yorkers by walking down the street talking into a shoe-shaped handset. We've moved a long way since then, when there are more mobile phones in Australia than people, and phone calls are just one of the many things that they now do.

That leads me to the latest excitement in my life - now don't go too far with the anticipation, I'm only a boring, middle-aged human rights lawyer - but as of a couple of weeks ago I tweet for human rights. And as of this morning I have 45 followers. Does anyone know what I'm talking about?

Ok, let me take this further. Just this week, my Facebook page was created, and as of this morning I have around 20 friends. Perhaps now more of you have worked out what I'm talking about. Twitter, Facebook, I've joined the world of social media.

Now, many people, when I've made this announcement, have greeted it negatively, or with a bit of a yawn. It's just a fad, it will go away, I'm not interested, I don't understand - all responses I have had. But social media will play a more and more major part in our communications in the future. Let me take Twitter as an example. Britney Spears has over 500,000 followers on Twitter. She has a Social Media Director who deals with this area of her life. However, the Social Media Director doesn't tweet for Britney- that's done by the Social Media staff. Ashton Kutcher (with 497,000 followers) and Stephen Fry (with over 200,000 followers) also tweet, but they do it themselves. In case you want to follow them - and Stephen Fry is very funny - their twitter names are A plus K, and just plain Stephenfry.

All right, they are all Celebs. But how many of you are on Facebook?

How many of you are on Twitter?

Ok, how about Myspace?

Come on, all of you, stand up!

What percentage of the group are you?

Why are you there?

To keep in touch with friends and family, work colleagues, kids at school, people up north, over east or overseas. You're there because you want to be counted in, you want to be part of this new phenomenon.

"No man (or woman) is an island," it is said. We all want, and need, to play a part in our community. But some of us find it harder than others. So now, let me talk to those who are not tweeting, making friends on Facebook, etc.

Why aren't you there?

What do you need to get there?

You need encouragement, you need information, you need support, and you'd like your social media deficits to be better understood. And once you'd had this support and information to overcome the barriers to taking part in social media, you'd start making positive contributions to the Twitter or Facebook community, and the community overall would be better and stronger for those contributions.

Ok, now it's your turn. All those not involved in social media please stand up!

What percentage of the group are you?

Well, you know, apart from the percentage difference, you're just like people with disabilities. You're not counted in.

So, let's examine disability, and its prevalence in our community. Because some of these statistics might surprise you. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics in May 2004, one in five Australians report a disability. Almost four million people reported a disability, with the rate similar for males and females. The rate increased with age, reaching 81% for those aged 85 years and over.

So disability (whether temporary or longer term) is a normal part of life. Statistics vary a little, coming from different surveys and methods of collection. But they indicate around one in every five Australians, or over three million people, experience a mental disorder of some kind; 14% of the community, or around 2.6 million Australians, have a physical disability of some kind; over one million Australians have a significant hearing impairment, with around 30,000 Australians totally deaf; around 300,000 Australians have a substantial vision impairment with around 20,000 totally blind; and around two percent of the population, or 400,000 Australians, have an intellectual impairment. So its no surprise that making adjustments to accommodate disability is a normal part of life - in education, employment, access to buildings, access to community services etc.

One million Australians experience profound or severe disability – that's the population of Adelaide . 2.5 million Australians are caring for people with disability- that's the population of Adelaide plus Perth . Where a person with a disability lives in a household, that household is living on less than half the median income of Australian households. And the cost of disability is estimated to account for 30% of the household income.

There is a strong correlation between socio-economic status and severe disability in capital cities, according to a report released this week by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. The report, ‘the geography of disability and economic disadvantage in Australian capital cities', focused on people aged under 65, thereby excluding much of the disability related to ageing. Report author, Dr Louise O'Rance, said that the figures clearly showed that disability among people aged under 65 was more common in communities where residents had fewer economic resources.

“For example, 3.1% of people living in the most disadvantaged fifth of local areas had severe disability, compared to 1.3% of those who lived in the most advantaged fifth of local areas.”

Some city-specific examples included:

• Sydney , where 2% of residents had severe disability, ranging from 0.7% in Mosman to 4% in Inner Parramatta.
• Melbourne , where 2.1% of residents had severe disability, ranging from 0.7% in Southbank-Docklands to 3.9% in Hume-Broadmeadows.
• Brisbane , where 2.3% of residents had severe disability, including, for example, 0.6% in the Inner City compared with 5.8 % in Redland-Balance.
• Adelaide , where 2.7% of residents had severe disability, ranging from 1.1% in Adelaide Hills-Central, to 6% in Playford-Elizabeth.

Of all Australian capital cities, Hobart had the highest rates of severe disability among people aged 0-64 years (2.8%), while Perth , Darwin and Canberra had the lowest (1.9%).

People with disability often have lower average incomes than people without disability, and their disability can impose extra costs on individuals and their families.

“On the other hand, risk factors for many chronic diseases are higher among socio-economically disadvantaged people, and people working in lower status jobs can face greater occupational hazards (such as serious workplace injury) that in turn contribute to higher rates of disability”, Dr O'Rance said.

People with a disability are less likely to have completed a higher educational qualification than those without a disability. One in five people aged 15-64 in private households who reported no disability had a bachelor degree or higher, compared to one in eight people - 13% - with a disability.

Other findings include:

• Many people with disabilities were not in the labour force, with participation decreasing markedly with greater levels of disability. Labour force participation rates were between 15% and 50%. The rate for people without a disability was 81%.
• People with disabilities experienced a higher unemployment rate - 9% - than those without a disability - 5%.
• People with a disability who were employed, were more likely to work in a part-time job - 37% - than those who were employed and did not have a disability - 29%.

So, by any measure, people with a disability are disadvantaged.

The Sustainable Communities Network, based at Edith Cowan University , describes a sustainable community as one:

"that has an explicit systemic approach to the integration of ecological, social, cultural and economic features to meet the needs of the present, without compromising the needs of the future".

When I think about the needs of people with disabilities in our community, it seems clear to me that a sustainable community is one that does not compromise the future of our children or ourselves, by constructing buildings and services that are accessible only to those who do not have a disability. And a sustainable community is one that does not compromise the future of our children and ourselves by perpetuating the myths in our community about people with disability, and by continuing to not welcome us into the broader community. It is not just the 20% of people currently identified as having a disability that will benefit from a more accessible community. We are all well aware of the significant effect that an ageing population will have on our community over the next 20 to 50 years. To put it simply, in the context of our changing demography, a community that is not accessible, and that does not welcome people with a disability, is not sustainable.

So, can I assume that you are persuaded as to the importance of ensuring that all members of our community are welcomed, and assisted to participate in it? Just like those non-tweeters, and non-Facebook friends. Well, it has to start at the beginning, with children.

Let me illustrate that by sharing some of my own experience.

Whilst growing up, I was lucky on a number of counts.

Firstly, I was lucky in the approach which my parents used when bringing me up. I say lucky, but perhaps I shouldn't dismiss the innate good sense they used when they decided - consciously or unconsciously - to treat me as just one of three siblings, rather than as a "special" child with a disability. Many kids with disabilities were not treated this way. Their parents - with the best of intentions - figuratively wrapped them in cotton wool. This meant that they didn't enjoy the same breadth and intensity of experiences which I enjoyed.

It must have been quite hard for my parents, knowing that inevitably I would fail on occasions, or have a negative experience. And those bruised foreheads or scraped knees must have hurt them almost as much as they hurt me. But the advantage for me was their approach - assuming that I could do things rather than assuming that I couldn't. Whilst this meant that I ended up with a few more scrapes, bruises and disappointments, it broadened my experience, and gave me the sense that I could do what I wanted, rather than limiting my options.

Secondly, I was lucky that a good friend of my parents was totally blind, and also a member of the NSW parliament. This just reinforced the positive message- if he, as a person who was blind, could be a successful politician, then why couldn't I do the things that I wanted to. So I grew up not being limited in my expectations.

Sadly, one of the largest barriers which people with disabilities in Australia face is the attitudinal barrier. Let me quote from the Work-Ability report on employment of people with disabilities launched by the Human Rights Commission in 2005:

"Managers see that employing someone with a disability is taking a risk, and unless they are supported by senior management and the Board to employ people from disadvantaged groups, they are unlikely to do so. There are two types of risk that appear to be barriers to the employment of people with disability from an employer's perspective - organisational culture risks and litigations risks. Employers say, ‘its all too hard, it might not work, there's too much risk and they'll never fit in....' There is also concern that an employee with disability might create an overly-high burden on supervisors: Most employers have no understanding of disability until they have a direct connection with it. They feel that it would be too onerous and high-risk to constantly monitor an employee with a disability."

Thirdly, I was lucky because I knew exactly what I wanted to do when I left school. I feel for people who face the dilemma of figuring out what they want to do in life, because for many it can mean not going forward with confidence, because of that degree of uncertainty.

From the time I was about 14 I knew that I wanted to study law. And I wanted to study law because I knew that changing laws was one way to improve society, or improve opportunities for people in society. My thinking wasn't as formulated as wanting to redress discrimination - much of what I do today. Rather, it was about changing the way society worked, to make it better.

Unfortunately, not everyone is as lucky as I was. So what can we, as a community, do to resource the welcoming and participation of everyone. There are two ways to remove the barriers, particularly the attitudinal barrier, currently facing people with disability. The first is to start as children by supporting them to get over this barrier. Finding technology which will minimise the disability, providing solid education in a general school environment where the experience gained is one of mixing with other members of the community, making building and facilities accessible.

But there is another way to address those barriers, and particularly that attitudinal barrier. That is, to start dismantling the barrier. And that's what today's forum - and the tool kit to be launched here - is all about.

I'm not here to teach you about the theory and practise of education – you're all far more experienced in that field than I am. But I am here to encourage you to see the value of making disability an ordinary part of life. Because what this kit does is resource you, so that you can teach children about disability - not just when there is a child with a disability in your classroom, but at various times throughout the educational cycle.

I have an 11 year old daughter who - as you would expect - has her dad nicely wound round her little finger – that's why you have dads isn't it, to learn the skills of bossing people around. When she was a baby, I used to carry her around in a backpack. One day, at a Sydney railway station, I was minding my own and Rachel's business, when a woman came up to me and asked for my name. "Why do you ask," I said, thinking this a strange request. "Because I want to report you to the child welfare authorities. People like you shouldn't be allowed to be responsible for little children." As you might guess, I suggested that she move on or I would report her to the police.

This is an extreme example. But it demonstrates the myths that are in our community about people with disability, and the assumptions that are made. Most of those assumptions are negative, about things that we can't do, and most of them are wrong. And the assumptions that are not negative paint us as these amazing heroes who are super-human. People with disabilities are not victims, and we're not heroes, we just want to live ordinary lives, and be agents of our own destiny.

As teachers, you particularly understand how the classroom can be a place where views and attitudes are formed for all of life. This kit gives you the tools to start dismantling the biggest barrier which West Australians with a disability face - the attitudinal barrier. And when that barrier starts to come down, the kids of today stop thinking about Derek the Deafie, Christine in the wheelchair, or Graeme and his white cane. They start thinking about Derek who blitzed the inter-school cross-country championship, Christine who is a legend at spelling, or Graeme who's an awesome debater. That's when people with disability will be counted in.

So, for those of you who still get your cricket results from the newspaper, rather than a tweet from Captain Ponting; for those who still go to a bank branch rather than banking online; for those who wait for their grand-children's fifth birthday photos to arrive the next week by snail-mail, rather than checking them out on Facebook the next day, or the next hour; we social networkers still want to count you in, because we know there are advantages that you can share, and that when you start being a Facebook friend or tweeting, all of us will be the better for it. Let's also ensure that people with disability are counted in, and that our community remains sustainable.

Thanks for the chance to speak with you today.