Former Pearcedale Primary School student Dylan Beasley and parents Kim and Robyn are fighting an expensive legal battle to gain equal opportunity rights for deaf students. Picture: Meagan Trotter.By Alison Noonan
THE mother of a former Pearcedale Primary School student is outraged that the Department of Education is prepared to spend up to $500,000 to fight a case brought by her deaf son.
Robyn Beasley said she was disgusted the department would waste half a million dollars of taxpayers’ money to fight a discrimination case at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) instead of forking out an estimated $35,000 to provide a classroom interpreter for her son, Dylan.
Ms Beasley filed the discrimination claim on behalf Dylan, who is profoundly deaf and was brought up using Auslan, the only recognised sign language in Australia.
She said when Dylan commenced schooling at Pearcedale primary he was taught by teachers who were not fluent in Auslan and some who could not sign at all.
“We want to see the Department of Education provide interpreters when there are no teachers of the deaf available,” Ms Beasley said.
“This is what we wanted in the first place for our son.
“We also want the department to provide training for all teachers of the deaf in sign language and increase the hours available at Melbourne University for Auslan courses.”
Ms Beasley said Dylan’s VCAT hearing ran for three days and had been deferred until 15 November.
She said the hearing was postponed after the tribunal was short an interpreter and the deputy president was booked in for something else in the first few days, meaning there was not enough time for a full hearing.
The Education Department has a Queen’s Counsel, a junior barrister, private law firm Minter Ellison, an inhouse lawyer and seven witnesses appearing in the case.
Dylan’s lawyer, James Gray, estimated the department could spend up to $500,000 on legal costs.
Deaf Children Australia CEO Damian Lacey said he wanted to see an end to families having to resort to legal action to address the Program for Students with Disabilities program’s failure to provide adequate services for students.
“This program has been widely and continually criticised for a number of years,” he said.
“We do not believe the current education system provides equal opportunity for deaf children, in fact we believe it’s failing.
“Families of deaf and hearingimpaired children are still having great difficulty in accessing some of the basic supports required by their children in schools.
“It is clear that individual schools are unable to obtain the resources they need from the Department of Education to provide them with the appropriate levels of support,” Mr Lacey said.
An Education Department spokesperson said the department was unable to comment on the case as it was before the courts.
However, he said the department was committed to offering a variety of educational settings for deaf students.
He said supports varied according to the educational needs of the student and the school’s assessment of the most appropriate way in which to meet the student’s needs.
“The department works with parents of deaf children to assist parents to make informed decisions about the education of their children and it has a commitment to the expenditure of its resources that best meet the needs of its students,” the spokesperson said.
