Harpur, Paul

Harpur, Paul

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Name Harpur, Paul

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We need to ensure teachers are appropriately trained, but also have State and Federal education departments and ministers, along with industry, schools and universities, and leaders with lived experiences come together to identify key areas where major targeted responses are required. Together we are good, but collectively we can be great and really transform society.

I would suggest teachers are amazing, but they are limited by the teaching enviornment. Let us make that enviornment as easy for everyone to learn. Embrace universal design of digital, physical spaces and of curriculum. Do not leave this up to teachers, but ensure resources purchased are meeting this hgih standard. One school cannot change how industry acts, but if all schools across Australia required universal design, then the market is inclusive and our schools are inclsuvie. I have written about this in my first Cambridge University Press and other works. Happy to share if asked.

I chair Universities Enable, a group of leaders with disabilities in the higher education sector, working with the leaders of the sector, to co-create a disability inclusion strategy for the sector. Over 9% of all students at university have a disability and even more in many primary and high schools. we can make it equal for them, easier for teachers, a joy for parents and financial beneficial for our society.

When I lost my eyesight in a train accident at the age of 14 many told me to get ready for a sheltered workshop. I went to a fantastic school, CAvendish Road State High School, where I was helped to fulfill my dreams. I am now a professor in law at the University of Queensland, affiliated with the Harvard Law School Project on Disability and do other things. The point is, believe in the possability of a better world and do all in your power to realize it.