Commissioned by Children and Young People with Disability Australia (CYDA), the survey has revealed that 75 per cent of disabled students were bullied last year, while 72 per cent were excluded from school activities or events.
That’s an alarming increase from 2022, when a similar CYDA survey found 70 per cent of disabled students were bullied and 65 per cent experienced exclusion.
Reports of bullying in 2024 included verbal abuse, physical violence, sexual and online harassment, and social exclusion, with students describing being spat on, threatened, groped, or mocked for their disability.
The damning findings have fuelled widespread calls from the disability sector for all political candidates to commit to urgent action on inclusive education this Federal election.
“These statistics are shocking but unfortunately not surprising,” CYDA CEO Skye Kakoschke-Moore, said.
“Students with disability, and their families, have been telling governments for years that our schools are simply not set up to truly include them.
“Sadly, it seems that not only has nothing changed in the 18 months since the Disability Royal Commission – we have somehow gone backwards. This election is the time to end this trend.”
As part of its election platform, CYDA is calling for a truly inclusive education system, a fair, safe and accessible disability supports ecosystem, the addressing of cost-of-living and unemployment impacts and more investment in individual advocacy services.
Lily Gaulton, a student with cerebral palsy and autism from Perth, has faced some of the bullying and exclusion firsthand.
The 12-year-old said fights and problems occurred daily but were brushed aside as minor misunderstandings by staff.
“There was a boy in my class who told someone not to waste their energy running from me when we played. That really hurt,” she recalled.
“[The bullying] went on for a long time and it was really hard.”
Lily’s mother Jenni Crowther said she was often forced to explain her daughter’s disability to the school, a process she called “exhausting”.
“The biggest challenge has been getting staff, parents and students to understand that neurodivergent kids can interpret the same situation very differently, and that matters,” she said.
“There are passionate teachers and staff who go above and beyond, but the system isn’t set up to give them the time, tools, or resources they need.”
CYDA’s survey heard from 118 Australian students with disability and found that more than two in three (71 per cent) of those who left the education system early cited inaccessibility, discrimination, and bullying as the main reasons.
With more than 500,000 children and young people with disability aged 25 and under in Australia, CYDA said the impact on current and former students is “staggering”.
Most are enrolled in mainstream schools, making it critical these settings provide genuine inclusion and support, the organisation said.
Youth disability advocate Ashleigh Keating pointed to improved teacher training, better resourcing, and a coordinated national strategy as essential for achieving this.
“If I were to sum up [my school experience] in two words, they would be ‘difficult’ and ‘frustrating’,” the 25-year-old Canberran shared.
“I faced a lot of preconceived notions because I’m autistic, whether that be down to a lack of understanding from staff or a system that is not built for me… I was always told I couldn’t or shouldn’t do things because of my disability.
“These failures have had long-lasting repercussions on me as an adult and have made it harder to engage in things like higher education.”
In 2023, the Disability Royal Commission’s final report called for the implementation of a National Roadmap for Inclusive Education and the phasing out of segregated education.
It recognised that an inclusive system benefits everyone, improving learning, social, behavioural, and physical development outcomes for disabled and non-disabled students alike.
While the Federal Government, and all states and territories, agreed to the idea of a National Roadmap ‘in principle’, to date no concrete steps have been taken towards making it a reality.
This Federal election CYDA is calling on all candidates to finally deliver inclusive education by committing to:
- Action a national roadmap to inclusive education
- Set up a national independent oversight body to make sure providers meet their legal obligations
- Create an inclusion fund for early childhood education and care
- Provide federal funding to schools to guarantee safe and quality education for students with disability
- Strengthen pathways into higher education for students with disability
In January, Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth launched Australia’s first national autism strategy and action plan that focuses on improving social and economic inclusion, diagnosis and services, and health.
The $42.3 million strategy outlined 22 commitments to boost wellbeing and earmarked almost $3 million to identify the prevalence of autism in Australia.
Another $20 million across four years will go to a peer support program to provide lived-experience advice for autistic people, under an initial two-year action plan to roll out practical measures.
The plan is rolling out at the same time as reforms to the NDIS, where thousands of people with autism have had their eligibility reassessed.
About half of the seven- and eight-year-olds who have undergone reassessment have been removed from the scheme, and a large proportion of them are children with autism, according to advocacy organisation, People with Disability Australia (PWDA).
Deputy CEO of PWDA, Megan Spindler-Smith, said in January that foundational supports, which are supposed to help those with autism who are no longer on the NDIS, are not ready yet and it’s unclear whether this autism strategy will provide the resources needed.
