In 2019 I returned to the now defunct role of National Disability Coordination Officer (NDCO) with the Centre of Disability Studies. In all I spent 14 years in this role with three different hosts. It was a fantastic role where I could focus on accessibility and influence Government policy around disability access. This could be access to tertiary education, better transition from study to work or supports in employment. We also influenced feedback to the Disability Discrimination Act Education Standards. My particular focus was on online education accessibility.

Soon after returning to the role in 2019, COVID hit. Around March of 2020 the first National Lock Down was implemented. All states were locked down and very rapidly schools, TAFE, Universities and Registered Training Providers (RTOs) had to move to online learning.

An interesting thing happened at this time. Students who were Deaf or Hard of Hearing began to contact me and describe how some Disability Liaison Officers at their institute had been encouraging them to defer their studies. The reason? It was apparently too difficult to provide them with online access. Quite rightly, the students were extremely miffed that they had been singled out.

I, of course, knew that there were solutions to online accessibility from my earlier work as an NDCO. I had provided several examples of how in the past. It was now 2020 and technology had advanced immensely in that time. The internet was faster for a start, making video connections much more reliable. This meant that video relay interpreting (VRI) was reliable and possible, which was not always the case when I started to work in this area around 2006. Automatic captioning was improving every day as well. Apart from that, live remote captioning was readily available. There was absolutely no reason to exclude people who were Deaf and hard of hearing from online studies.

The NDCO network was extensive. There were 31 of them across Australia. They had extensive networks with disability support practitioners all over Australia and New Zealand. All of the major universities, private universities, TAFES and large number of RTOs were part of this network. In the first few weeks of the first lock down 6 or so Deaf and Hard of Hearing students had contacted me describing how they had been asked to defer their studies because arranging access for them was considered “TOO HARD”.

I decided to email the network and raise this issue. I was conscious that it was a very stressful time for all concerned. I tried to word the email as diplomatically as possible, raising the issue of the rights of students with a disability to continue with their studies and offering support through the NDCO network. I did this after consulting with several NDCOs and we decided this was the best way to raise the issue.

Within 20 minutes of my original email I got a response. It was quite an angry response. It pointed out how difficult and stressed that everyone was and in none to subtle terms they suggested that I back off. The advice was to get the students to liaise with the disability support units of their institute. Not quite the response that I had wanted.

However, in the ensuing days we began to get some more positive responses. It was clear that the network felt that by working closely together, we could share information that would likely help students who are Deaf or hard of hearing, and other disabilities, continue with their studies online.

From there we began a series of regular catch up meetings where we provided support to the network. We provided information about online access for Blind and vision impaired students. There was a session on Autism where we discussed some of the issues of access for students with Autism. In partnership with Griffith University, Inclusive Futures: Re-imagining Disability and The University of Tasmania we provided information about Deaf and Hard of Hearing access to online learning. We also, knowing the enormous stress everyone was under, provided sessions on mindfulness focusing on how to ‘De-Stress’. This was the NDCO network at its very best. Sadly, it has now been de-funded.

I like to think that through our efforts, and the efforts of all the disability practitioners who actively engaged with us, many students with a disability were able to continue with their studies. There is no conclusive evidence that this is the case. Nevertheless, this initiative that I helped to kick start is one of my proudest moments. People like Jessica, Eliza, Isabel, Darlene, David etc – They should also take a bow, they were immense.

The paradox of these COVID challenges is that for many people with a disability it actually created more opportunities. People that had difficulties getting to classes because of physical and care needs were able to study from home. For many people with Autism, the social difficulties were lessened and they actually enjoyed online learning more. If you had health issues or episodic mental health issues you could study remotely.

As Teams and Zoom were more widely used these platforms began to add accessibility features such as automatic captioning. Sessions could be recorded so that they could be watched at a more convenient time making therapy or allied health appointments more easy to attend. It was not all bad, in fact for many people with a disability it was a godsend.

But as vaccines were rolled out COVID supposedly became less of a threat***. The need to study remotely became less. Education providers began to revert to more traditional face to face learning on campus. Providers began to demand that students attend a certain number of face to face sessions per year.

That is all well and good but as non-disabled do all the time, as they reverted back to more traditional learning, they forgot about people with a disability. As education providers reverted back to more traditional learning they began to forget about disability issues and access. So much, that many of the accessibility gains for people with a disability that occurred during COVID times are now being lost.

This was confirmed to me when I recently read an article on Linkedin from the Irish Times. The article explains that post COVID, as we revert to more traditional learning, people with a disability and chronic health issues are, “…..are slipping through the cracks.” **

The articles tells the story of Finnegan. This man was horrifically abused as a child. The abuse led to him being permanently disabled. In recent times he has been hospitalised. Finnegan is studying to be a Social Worker. A field of study where you would expect some level of empathy, ironic that.

Of course, being ill and in hospital Finnegan could not attend classes. In COVID times he would have been studying online which would have been beneficial for his circumstances. However, these are not “COVID” times. A certain number of attendances in class are a requirement. Within a month of falling ill Finnegan was subject to a “Fitness to Study” inquiry. At the same time he was part of a huge and important legal inquiry relating to his abuse as a child.

Finnegan asked for adjustments so that he could continue his study. These would have included online attendance and probably extra time to complete course requirements. Despite his extraordinary circumstances his requests were refused. By a Social Work course, no less. Go figure!

The article notes that while many people found online learning difficult, that online learning was a brilliant for many people who had disabilities or conditions that made it difficult to attend study in person. We know of the gains that online study provided for many people with a disability, we learnt a lot during those time. BUT, it seems that all of this learning is being forgotten. The article quotes Dara Ryder, Chief executive of Ahead, an organisation that provides support and advice to create inclusive learning environments:

“My experience is that the vast majority of programs have returned to largely in-person only delivery. Some colleges won’t even provide access to recorded lectures as a reasonable accommodation. They claim that it’s not reasonable, which seems incredible given that they did it for two years.”

And this is where it becomes a Mind F@#k. During COVID people with a disability were being asked to defer their study because providing their access online was considered too hard. When it suited them the non-disabled rapidly reverted to online learning. Their attempts to exclude people with a disability from this new online learning approach ultimately met strong resistance from students with a disability and disability advocates like myself and my colleagues.

As a result, many people with a disability found online learning a boon. They found it provided them with a greater access. They had gains. As an industry education discovered a new and more flexible way to learn that benefited people with a disability and many others – Single parents for example and those who studied part-time and had to work.

As Ryder said, all this online stuff and the benefits it provided was considered reasonable by these non-disabled academics two years ago. And now they have reverted back to traditional face to face learning it isn’t! When it suits them its great, and now it doesn’t it’s not. Bugger all those people that it did benefit, they either fit in with the ways of the mainstream or, like Finnegan, they are considered, “NOT FIT TO STUDY”

And that dear readers is a complete and utter MIND F@#K!!!

** https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/education/2024/03/05/theres-huge-anger-disabled-students-say-not-enough-is-being-done-to-support-them-at-third-level/?# (Please note the article is behind a pay wall.)

*** I say supposedly because COVID is still one of the highest causes of death in Australia.