AustraliaDisability Standards for Education 2005, enrollment, reasonable adjustments and the design and delivery of courses
Disability Standards for Education 2005 (Cth), Parts 3, 4, 6 and 10
In force since .
An accessibility requirements rule binding private bodies.
- Criminal exposure
- No
- Private right of action
- Yes
As of .
What it requires
- If you are an education provider, including a private school, a private training provider, a Registered Training Organisation or a higher education provider, take reasonable steps to ensure that a prospective student with a disability can seek admission or apply for enrollment on the same basis as a prospective student without a disability, consulting the student or an associate and making any necessary reasonable adjustment (ss. 2.1 and 4.2).
- The measures the Standards name for enrollment include making information about your enrollment processes accessible and available in a range of formats, and designing enrollment procedures that a student or associate can complete without undue difficulty (s. 4.3).
- Take reasonable steps to design each course or program so that a student with a disability can participate in its learning experiences, including assessment and certification, on the same basis as other students, whatever the mode of delivery, on-line delivery included (ss. 1.5 and 6.2(1)).
- Where a student with a disability is enrolled in a course or program, consult the student or an associate, decide whether an adjustment is necessary, make any reasonable adjustment within a reasonable time, and repeat the process as the student's needs change (ss. 3.5, 3.7 and 6.2(2) and (3)).
- The measures the Standards name for courses include making the curriculum, teaching materials and assessment accessible to the student, and supplying study materials in an appropriate format without the student being disadvantaged by the time taken to convert them (s. 6.3).
- If you provide educational early childhood services, these duties have applied to you since as if you were an educational institution (s. 1.5(2)).
- A requirement does not apply to the extent that compliance would impose unjustifiable hardship (other than a requirement in Part 8 on harassment and victimization), but you must comply to the maximum extent not involving it and must demonstrate that the exception operates; you may maintain a course's academic requirements and other requirements inherent in or essential to its nature (ss. 3.4(3), 10.1 and 10.2).
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text, as of .
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
Australian Human Rights Commission (complaints of unlawful discrimination, which include a contravention of a disability standard); the Federal Court of Australia and the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (Division 2) hear an application once the President has terminated the complaint
What it reaches
Instrument type
a regulation made under an act
Applicability criteria
The Standards apply subject to section 12 of the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and have effect as if they were limited application provisions under that section (s. 1.5(1)).
- As of
- Combinator
- Any of
- Criteria
- is an education provider: an educational authority, an educational institution, or an organization whose purpose is to develop or accredit curricula or training courses used by other education providers (s. 2.1)
- is an educational early childhood service provider (ss. 1.5(2) and 2.1A), from
What this law does
The Disability Standards for Education 2005 are disability standards made under subsection 31(1) of the Disability Discrimination Act 1992, and they apply to education providers, subject to section 12 of that Act. An education provider is an educational authority, an educational institution, or an organization whose purpose is to develop or accredit curricula or training courses used by other education providers.
The providers bound include schools registered in the private sector, private training providers such as business colleges and commercial training businesses, Registered Training Organisations, and higher education providers. The Standards apply to education and training delivered through in-class tuition, distance education, flexible delivery, computer-assisted learning and on-line delivery.
Since the Standards also apply to educational early childhood service providers as if they were education providers who are educational institutions. The provider must take reasonable steps to ensure that a prospective student with a disability is able to seek admission to, or apply for enrollment in, the institution on the same basis as a prospective student without a disability, consulting the student and making any reasonable adjustment that is necessary (section 4.2).
The measures the Standards name for enrollment include making information about enrollment processes accessible and available in a range of formats, and designing enrollment procedures so that they can be completed without undue difficulty (section 4.3).
The provider must take reasonable steps to ensure that a course or program is designed so that a student with a disability is able to participate in its learning experiences, including its assessment and certification requirements, on the same basis as a student without a disability (section 6.2).
The measures the Standards name for courses include making the curriculum, teaching materials and assessment accessible to the student, and making study materials available in an appropriate format without the student being disadvantaged by the time taken for conversion into an accessible format (section 6.3).
An adjustment is reasonable if it balances the interests of all parties affected, the provider must consult the student or an associate before making it, and the provider must take reasonable steps to make a required adjustment within a reasonable time (sections 3.4, 3.5 and 3.7).
In assessing whether an adjustment is reasonable, the provider is entitled to maintain the academic requirements of the course or program and other requirements or components that are inherent in or essential to its nature (section 3.4(3)).
It is not unlawful for a provider to fail to comply with a requirement of the Standards if, and to the extent that, compliance would impose unjustifiable hardship, except for a requirement in Part 8 on harassment and victimization; the provider must comply to the maximum extent not involving unjustifiable hardship and must demonstrate that an exception operates (sections 10.1 and 10.2).
The Standards commenced on , and the Disability Standards for Education Amendment Standards 2025 commenced on . It is unlawful for a person to contravene a disability standard (section 32 of the Disability Discrimination Act 1992).
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app ships a consumer interface.