Special provisions: The risky business of education policy and disability discrimination

In Australia, the Disability Standards for Education 2005 (Cth) (Standards) outline how specific areas of education are to be made accessible to students with disabilities. The central tenet of the Standards is that students with disabilities are treated 'on the same basis' as a student without a disability. The Standards include statements of the rights of students with disabilities, descriptions of the legal obligations of education providers, and measures which can be taken as evidence of compliance. To meet their legal obligations, all educational providers across Australia have published policies that define the types of adjustments that teachers can make to enable students to engage with curriculum and demonstrate their learning on the same basis as their peers. This paper examines how Australian education providers define what is 'reasonable' when adjustments are made to assessment and how this definition aligns with the Standards. Implications for educators and education providers are considered.