Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I would just like to say that I support needs based funding in all schools, not only in schools in my electorate. I would like to put on the record that my colleagues on this side of the parliament all support needs based funding in schools. Dyslexia is one of those learning difficulties that really need support. Students with dyslexia struggle, and there is no nationally accredited program for dyslexia. I congratulate the member for Wakefield on bringing this really important motion to the House. It is something that I am quite passionate about. Dyslexia is not a disease; it is a different way that some people think and learn. Many programs have been run throughout the country over a number of years. SPELD was one of the first programs that was introduced. People have struggled with reading and spelling, despite having the same access to education as others.

One of my sons is dyslexic. I have three children—two boys and a girl. Two of them went to university; two of them completed their HSC; two of them had no problem whatsoever. And two of them have had different opportunities to my son who has spent his life living with dyslexia and all the problems associated with it. His opportunities in life have been much less than the opportunities of my other two children who were able to achieve a tertiary education.

Despite the fact that I linked him into many of the programs that were around at the time, there was no funding for those programs, obviously. You had to self-fund them. In addition to that, the programs necessarily were not well researched and did not work as effectively as they should have. There is a lot more knowledge about dyslexia these days. There are many different approaches, but there is still no national program to deal with dyslexia and to offer opportunities to young people and older people who are struggling with learning because they have dyslexia. What I find really sad is that from the time that my son was in school to today there has been very little progress. Motions like the one the member for Wakefield has put on the table here in the House are exactly what you need to change the way people with dyslexia can access education.

It is estimated that about 10 per cent of Australians are living with dyslexia. As I have mentioned, it is resistant to traditional teaching and regular tutoring. I spent a fortune on tutoring for my son, but it did not work because his way of learning was totally different to the way my other children learnt. He is equally intelligent. He has adopted different techniques and has followed a different vocational line, one where he does not have to rely on learning. Dyslexia can be seen as a language-based learning difficulty. It is recognised in law under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992.

I would call for a national approach to dyslexia and a full recognition that people with dyslexia learn differently. I also call on the government to ensure that every student, every child, that is living with dyslexia has access to a program that will help them learn to read.

See this speech in context