Harry Banks acquired a severe traumatic brain injury at 11 months old and now lives with a physical and communication disability.
His mother Michaela Banks said the family had to "re-imagine" their lives and thought Harry would need to attend a special school.
But Harry's speech pathologist suggested they enrol him at a mainstream school, challenging his mother's expectations about where he belonged in a classroom.
Ms Banks said enrolling Harry into a mainstream school was not easy, and they were often turned away.
"I got told things like, 'Are you sure we're the school for you? Did you mean to call us? Or, did you want to call the unit down the road?'" she told the ABC.
Ms Banks said their local school accepted Harry despite admitting they had never previously accommodated a student with his needs.
"That's all we needed to hear, that they wanted Harry at their school, that he would be a valued student and he would be part of that school community," Ms Banks said.
Queensland University of Technology inclusive education lecturer Glenys Mann said parents of children with disability have "very real fears" about sending their children to mainstream schools.
"Parents worry about class size, they worry that classrooms are too noisy, too chaotic, they fear bullying, they fear that their kids are going to be left out, they think that their children won't have friends," Dr Mann said.
But bullying and social isolation also happens in special schools, she said.
Segregating people with disability may cause 'damage'
Dr Mann said there was no research that suggested children with a disability had better outcomes when they attended special schools.
"I don't think that necessarily keeping schools separate and divided and having this binary system is actually the answer to the concerns parents have," Dr Mann said.
"We need to be very aware of the damage that we know happens when we have segregation of any sort for people with disability."
The 2023 Disability Royal Commission recommended segregated education be phased out by 2051.
Dr Mann said South Australia had taken "long enough" to phase in inclusive education and the focus should be on deploying specialist support in a different way.
"What I would love to see in order to progress inclusive education, is the collaboration between specialist teachers and mainstream teachers, and leaders and parents … in order to progress schools where all students belong," she said.
Initially, Ms Banks said she was nervous to send Harry to a mainstream school, not knowing how students and parents would react.
But she said their interactions have been overwhelmingly positive.
"I've had parents come up to me and say, you know, 'I'm so glad that Harry is in school with my child because we've had conversations that we wouldn't have had otherwise,' discussions around disability, around diversity that wouldn't have happened if their children were just at a homogenous school," she said.
Re-imagining education
South Australia's Education Minister Blair Boyer said removing segregation would be an immense effort with "big ramifications".
He said the future of inclusive education would require education systems and the government to be "willing to do things they had never done before".
He said the department was considering what the system might look like and would make a decision about any changes later this year.
Dr Mann said developing an inclusive system was not about charity or "being nice" but rather about the rights of every student.
"I think we need to be open to having a vision of something that is more than just what we have now," she said.
Ms Banks said Australia was not ready to phase out segregated education but she hoped the issue would be prioritised.
"If we want that kind of inclusive Australia that I hear everyone talking about it, we've got to start right at the beginning, we've got to send our … children to school together," Ms Banks said.
Harry is now 13 years old and said high school would be "different, but exciting".
Source: ABC