‘Come willing to learn’: experiences of parents advocating for their children with severe vision impairments in Australian mainstream education

ABSTRACT

This article presents the findings from interviews with thirteen parents of students with severe vision impairment who attend mainstream schools in Queensland, Australia. Participants were interviewed about their experiences in advocating for their children in a range of educational contexts. These experiences varied greatly depending on a number of factors, such as attitudes to inclusivity and ableism, perceptions of vision impairment, school culture, teacher-parent communication, and competing agendas. Using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, the authors provide illuminating data on three broad themes: parents’ experiences of advocating for their children, parents’ experiences of utilising support networks and funding, and parents’ suggestions for schools and teachers. Important recommendations for teachers, schools, parents, students, and service providers are offered, with specific advice to develop a community of care, collaboration, and high expectations for students with vision impairment.

KEYWORDS:

• Inclusive education
• vision impairment
• parent advocacy
• school communities

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.

Notes on contributors

Melissa Cain

Dr Melissa Cain is senior lecturer and Head of Secondary Teaching at the Australian Catholic University in Brisbane, teaching courses on Inclusive Education and Arts education. Her research covers Initial Teacher Education, Inclusive Education, and Creative Pedagogies with a current focus on supporting students with vision impairment in mainstream schools. Melissa has managed three largescale national Learning and Teaching projects, and has produced an international MOOC through EdX and Microsoft. Melissa has received several higher education teaching awards and is the recipient of the Callaway Doctoral Award. Melissa is active in the low vision community.

Melissa Fanshawe

Ms Melissa Fanshawe is senior lecturer in the School of Education at University of Southern Queensland. She has twenty years' experience within Queensland schools as a teacher, advisory teacher, Deputy and Principal. Melissa is a trained teacher for students with vision impairment. She is currently completing her PhD in the field of Vision Impairment. Melissa is passionate about advocating for standardised accessible formats so students with vision impairment can have independent access to quality education.

Polly Goodwin

Polly Goodwin is a professional Audio Describer, scripting and voicing descriptions inserted into visual presentations with the purpose of ensuring that it makes sense from an auditory perspective, rendering content accessible for people who are blind or have low vision. She runs the Benefits of Audio Description in Education in Australasia initiative to encourage children and young people to engage critically with audio description. Polly is also a Service Designer at Vision Australia, where she led the redesign of services for children, young people who are blind or have low vision and their families that eventually became Project EmployAbility.