Disability Standards for Education and the Obligation of Reasonable Adjustment

Under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth) disability standards may be formulated. Standards set benchmarks which must be met by institutions which operate in a particular protected area. The Disability Standards for Education 2005 came into force in August 2005. An important ramification of the Education Standards is that education institutions are now obliged to make 'reasonable adjustments' to the way they operate in order that students with disabilities may be accommodated. These adjustments must be made in the areas of enrolment, participation, curriculum development, accreditation and delivery, student support services and harassment and victimisation. Education authorities and providers and students with disabilities are legitimately interested in how the 'reasonableness' of proposed adjustment will be determined. The scope of the adjustment required will affect the scope of the right to inclusion in mainstream education institutions of students with disabilities. This paper examines existing case law in order to give some insight into how courts and tribunals may handle this enquiry. The paper examines existing decisions where reasonableness has been in issue: cases where an implied duty of reasonable accommodation was applied to the facts; and cases involving indirect discrimination where the reasonableness of the discrimination was to be determined. [Author abstract, ed]