Coalition of parents, supporters, blind adults and kids Committed to their proposed new blind school

Vision Australia’s announced closure of Victoria’s only Blind & Vision Impaired school (the old RVIB) located in Burwood, means the forced integration of ALL Blind or Vision Impaired children into mainstream State Government or special schools designed for other disabilities.

There will no longer be a suitable specialist educational facility in the State of Victoria.

The creation of a replacement specialist school facility is essential to deliver on the promised equal educational opportunity pledge by government. The evidence is clear that government is unable to provide anything like the classroom and specialist skills and support within mainstream, despite promises to the contrary. The Premier’s education blueprint affirms the wellbeing of Victorian children and their families and aims to ensure that Victorian children have every opportunity to learn, grow and experience a happy and healthy childhood.

Integration does not work for everyone.

In practice, it does not necessarily lead to inclusion, independence or self-esteem. On the contrary, often it crushes and inhibits many young people’s personalities by making it too hard to “keep up”. The pendulum has swung from institution-only 30 years ago to mainstream inclusion-only today. The Coalition supports inclusion for those children that require minimal support or after children acquire essential life skills within a specialist school.
The pendulum has to swing to the middle, offering CHOICE from a mixture of mainstream and specialist schools. Blind/Vision Impaired children will then have the freedom to choose the education which is best for them: specialist, mainstream or a combination of both.

By the beginning of school year 2010, the coalition intends to have a fully functioning specialist Educational Facility for students who are Blind/Vision Impaired with or without additional needs, with access to core curriculum and expanded core curriculum and necessary therapy services.
At the Coalition’s first Media Event (Thursday the 13th of November, 2008) parents, supporters, blind adults, RVIB graduates, mainstream and Burwood kids met to announce the proposed school and Victoria’s first survey of the 1000 mainstream school blind and Vision Impaired kids to gather their school experiences.