New resources are available to help understand obligations under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (DDA) and put them into daily practice.
The DDA requires that services support children with disability to access and take part in early childhood education and care in the same way as other children.
This means that services must make reasonable adjustments to fit the requirements of children with disability. It also means that children with disability and their parents and care givers are not victimised because of their disability.
All services must comply with the DDA and failure to do so is unlawful.
The new resources include an information sheet, fact sheets, tip sheets and posters.
They outline obligations and provide guidance on what they mean in practice. They are available to all services both those covered by the National Quality Framework and those that are not.
The resources are available on ACECQA’s website. The Department of Education engaged ACECQA to develop the resources following a review of the Disability Standards for Education 2005.
Preschools are covered by the Disability Standards for Education 2005. Resources for preschools are on the Department of Education’s website.