Justice for Jake

Justice for Jake Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from Justice for Jake, News & Media Website, Melbourne.

10/03/2023

Please be informed that Jake Bushby v State of Victoria settled today, and the trial has been vacated.

It was a very hard decision to make.

I always have and will put Jake’s best interests first and my decision to accept a settlement from the Department of Education reflects this philosophy.

It was a long, hard battle which started with an ordinary mum who tried to make OUR Government accountable for their neglect, and protect Jake’s human rights.

On reflection, I feel a lot has been achieved over the 6 years of this fight. Many people have felt empowered and started their own push backs trying to get their children treated as they should. We challenged Government departments, and demonstrated that although we had no solicitor representation in the last crucial months, and no access to Government funds, we could defend Jake’s position.

I’ve been assisted by and met so many exemplary people who dedicate their time and energy to defending our children. We will be forever grateful. Courageous and Intelligent people who NEVER ask for anything in return. I couldn’t have gotten this far without them.

Jake and I would like to thank all of you for your support and best wishes.

The fight for the rights of people with disabilities will go on.

Unfortunately, there is always another Dragon to Slay………

08/03/2023

Dirty tricks from Southern Autistic School

So desperate are Southern Autistic School to prove that autistic people have no capacity, they are going to ask the judge to cut out evidence that proves Jake immediately started learning after leaving their school.

They want the records of his education and expansion of his vocabulary hidden from the court, and from anyone else.

And this sums up Southern Autistic School in a nutshell. They are fighting with everything they have to protect their babysitting of autistic students.

These are teachers that were giving Jake Play-Doh to play with in 2017 when he was 16 years old (there were no OT goals around play doh). He was given books that a three-year-old might read.

Think of the dishonesty of people in a court case, who are trying to hide facts that might prove them wrong. These are the people at Southern Autistic School.

They try and destroy my son’s future, and then want to cover up the evidence that he could have learnt if someone could be bothered teaching him.

What sort of people do this? Find out in the second half of our court case. To hear the opening by our barrister, come on:

15 March 10 AM
Federal Court
305 William Street
Melbourne

06/03/2023

A reminder of Jake's story and the treatment of autistic children at Southern Autistic School.

03/03/2023

Surviving Southern Autistic School

Some of you may wonder what happened to Jake when he left Southern autistic School at the end of 2019, after I (his mum) specifically asked the principal for an academic curriculum and he refused - in writing.

Can you imagine as a parent of a non-autistic child, having to ask the Principal that your son or daughter actually be educated, and them saying no? However this is Southern Autistic School - where there was never any intention to provide an education to autistic students.

When Jake left Southern Autistic School, in his last year he was still cutting, pasting, colouring in, doing manual labour and work at the level of a prep student.

However his family and outsiders saved him. A speech therapist expert in AAC started working with him, and from the approximately 40-50 words he learnt in 14 years at Southern Autistic School, he went to about 500 words before two years after leaving.

An educational tutor started actually teaching him. He was expected to learn new vocabulary on every teaching occasion, and learn subject such as history, geography et cetera.

Whereas at Southern Autistic School he was unmotivated (how many years can you play snakes and ladders for?) he would now get frustrated if his tutor was late, he was so keen to learn. From only having access to his communication device every now and then, in the last few years it is now always by his side.

Now he can communicate, his true personality has come out and he has relationships with a number of people. He mixes in the community, mostly with people without disability. He did not end up in a sheltered workshop.

You are invited to this court case so you can listen to Southern Autistic School staff proudly point to Jake as the reason he barely learnt there. His lack of capacity. His laziness. His difficult nature. His lack of motivation. As he only has a mild intellectual disability, no one can point at that, as we know people with mild intellectual disabilities can do things such as get their drivers license, jobs et cetera.

It’s his autism.

Please come and support us.

02/03/2023

COVID restrictions - Federal Court

We were asked to provide information about whether there are any Covid restrictions at the Federal Court-none to our knowledge, so it would be great to see you there.

01/03/2023

Not worth the bother

As an autistic person who has little or no speech, Jake needed a different way of communicating. Staff at Southern Autistic couldn’t be bothered providing him with a formal PECS program-confirmed by principal Bruce McPhate two years before Jake left. After six years of using PECS, Jake’s book had about 40 pictures which mostly had to do with toys and food.

Would any teacher, principal or senior school leader think that acquiring 40 words in six years would be acceptable for a non-autistic child? No.

They then couldn’t be bothered using his communication device when he got it - we could check it and see when it was used. There was only a flurry of activity after we lodged a discrimination complaint, however even Southern Autistic’s own staff have admitted the students’ devices are not given to them so that they can actually have them in the classroom.

Imagine the frustration of being a teenager with about 40 words, which wasn’t far off the number of words Jake was using when he left school in 2019.

Perhaps Southern Autistic don’t want children to communicate so they can’t talk about the abuse of students that goes on there.

When will autistic children be offered the type of education that other children have? How can we have teachers in our system that are perfectly happy when their students can’t even communicate? Why should they be allowed to teach?

Next month, Southern Autistic with the strong backing of the Department of Education will double down and defend their disgusting treatment of autistic kids.

Again, our family welcomes as many people as possible, not only to hear what happened to Jake, but to see how Southern Autistic School and the Department of Education treat families of young people with disabilities who dare to complain.

Discrimination complaint being heard - Federal Court of Australia Melbourne 15 MarchWe invite you to attend for the ope...
28/02/2023

Discrimination complaint being heard - Federal Court of Australia Melbourne 15 March

We invite you to attend for the opening of our case on 15 March 2023. We also invite you to hear how teachers from Southern Autistic speak about autistic students.

We would particularly value the support of the autistic community, as Jake is not the only autistic person at Southern Autistic School who has suffered.

Jake has been forced by staff at Southern Autistic to work in sheltered workshops/sweatshops instead of being in class getting an education. The sheltered workshops were classed as ‘work experience’ but unlike kids without disabilities, Jake didn’t get any remuneration for his packing and sorting.

His teachers viewed him with such disrespect, that when he was 18 in his last year of school, they were still telling him to colour in and do maths additions of one plus one.

His week was filled with picking up rubbish, going to the supermarket (for years in a row), weeding and watching TV. You can see on his timetable how much effort was put into his education.

We will keep you up-to-date on this page as to how Southern Autistic School is running this case.

27/02/2023

Jake v Southern Autistic School.

We welcome everyone to this page who believes in the rights of autistic young people to get an education. For them to be seen as having capacity and worth putting effort into. For them to be offered an academic curriculum. For them to be given the right to communicate.

Follow our family's David and Goliath Federal Court discrimination case on this page.

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Melbourne, VIC

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