Supporting Social Inclusion for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders Insights from Research and Practice

106 Michelle L. Bonati

Attorney-General’s Department, 1986). This approach took new consideration for
how people with disability should be afforded opportunities to be a part of society,
but was limited by the focus on integration (i.e. fitting into society with supports)
rather than inclusion (i.e. changing society to accommodate and accept the diver-
sity of its people).
Under pressure from self-advocates and disability rights organisations, the
Australian government enacted legislation in recognition that people with disabil-
ities and their associates experience discrimination (WWDA, n.d.). The Disability
Discrimination Act (DDA) of 1992 made it illegal to discriminate against someone
who has a disability in several aspects of life, including employment, education,
and accommodation (Commonwealth Attorney-General's Department, 1992). The
passage of the DDA represented a historic movement forward for the protection of
rights of Australian people with disabilities.
Other significant pieces of legislation, evaluation reports, and policies followed
the enactment of the DDA, bringing us into the current era of reforms and efforts
aimed at improving social inclusion for people with disability, including those with
ASD. These included the development of Disability Standards under the DDA
(1992). Most importantly to the current direction of disability policy related to social
inclusion is the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability (CPRD)
(UN, 2006), which is an international instrument ratified by Australia in 2008. The
CPRD prompted the landmark Shut Out Report, which detailed the persistent social
exclusion that people with disability in Australia experience (FaHCSIA, 2009).
Two national disability strategies, the Commonwealth Disability Strategy of 1994
(Commonwealth Department of Social Services, 1994) and the National Disability
Strategy 2010-2020 (Commonwealth Council of Australian Governments, 2011),

International Year

of Disabled

Persons 1981

Disability Standards
for Accessible Public
Transport 2002

National Disability

Strategy

2010–2020

Review of Disability

Standards for

Education Final

Report 2015

Willing to Work

Report 2016

Disability Care and

Support Report

2011

The National

Disability Insurance

Scheme Act

2013

National Disability

Insurance Scheme

2013 (Rollout to be

complete 2020)

Review of

Accessible

Transport Standards

Final Report 2015

Disability Standards

for Education 2005

UN Convention on

the Rights of

Persons with

Disability 2006

Australia ratifies

CRPD 2008 and

Optional Protocol

2009

Shut Out Report

2009

Handicapped

Persons Review &

the New Directions

Report 1985

Disability Services

Act 1986

Disability

Discrimination Act

1992

Commonwealth

Disability Strategy

1994

FIGURE 8.2 The timeline of efforts to strengthen human rights related to social
inclusion for people with disability in Australia