Disabled academics need a bigger say in sector, says professor

Representation of people with disabilities needs to be “bolted in” to the administrative structures of Australian higher education, according to Queensland’s first fully blind law professor.

Paul Harpur, who was recognised in this year’s Australia Day awards, said evolving disability-related legislation presented both opportunities and risks for the sector. The best way to seize the opportunities, and guard against the risks, was for universities to embed the issue in their decision-making processes through a community-led advisory mechanism.

He said about 10 per cent of Australia’s higher education community had disabilities. While representative body Universities Australia has a committee focusing on indigenous Australians, who constitute 2 per cent of staff and students, there is no equivalent disability body.

Professor Harpur said a disability arm was warranted, led – like the indigenous committee – from within. “If you have something representing indigenous people, you need indigenous leadership. And if you have something on disability, you need disability leadership. I [cannot] speak for all people with a disability, but I have contacts in the disability community. It’s a different way of connecting in,” he said.

Professor Harpur, who lost his sight in a train accident when he was 14, described Universities Enable – which he established in 2022 – as an “agitator” group. “Often you need the agitator to get someone interested,” he said. “But once you’ve got them interested [you] need someone who can come up with a workable solution.”

The University of Queensland academic has been named a member of the Order of Australia for service to people with disability. It is the latest accolade for the two-time Paralympian and former Fulbright Future Scholar who was 2022 Blind Australian of the Year and also holds positions with Harvard and Syracuse universities.

His advocacy work has included founding the Disability Inclusion Group at Queensland and its national equivalent, Universities Enable. He served on the Australian Universities Accord’s ministerial reference group and is midway through a four-year Australian Research Council future fellowship supporting universities to become “disability champions of change”.

He said he expected the accord to spawn a tertiary education commission with a disability council sitting under it. Such an arrangement would leave universities less latitude to cherry-pick ideas they liked and ignore inconvenient advice.

Professor Harpur said the sector needed to take note of the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability, which packed 222 recommendations into its final report last September. “They read to me as a to-do list for academic researchers. There’s a huge opportunity for us to really gear up and find the solutions which can help guide the country,” he said.

“The risk is [that the] expectations [of the] 30,000 or 40,000 staff with disability are now higher. The probability of getting litigated is increasing.”

Lawsuits could be lodged over issues ranging from the design of physical and digital facilities to the administration of courses and exams. New clauses in workplace safety legislation, which oblige employers to manage the mental health risks posed by “psychosocial hazards”, could also put university executives in legal strife.

“People with disability in the sector are already producing workable solutions,” Professor Harpur said. “The best way to take the front foot is to…start working out a roadmap forward before a roadmap’s worked out for us.”

john.ross@timeshighereducation.com