Berwick mother Leanne Woodman and her vision-impaired daughter Maddison are urging the community to sign a petition in an effort to keep open the Vision Australia Education Centre.23852 By Kelly Yates
A BERWICK mother is desperately calling on the community to sign a petition in an effort to stop the closing down of her vision-impaired daughter’s school in Burwood.
Leanne Woodman says she has no idea where she will send her six-year-old daughter Maddison, after hearing the news last week that the Vision Australia Education Centre would be closing its doors in December.
Maddison was born nine weeks premature and suffered a brain haemorrhage at three days of age, causing cerebral palsy, a vision impairment and epilepsy.
Ms Woodman has collected more than 300 signatures from residents in Narre Warren and Doveton to try and push for The Vision Australia Education Centre to remain open.
The centre is the only dedicated school for vision impaired children in Victoria and caters for children from Prep to Year 12.
At the school, Maddison is not only taught the mainstream academic system but also has weekly physiotherapy, occupational, speech and hydrotherapy sessions.
Ms Woodman said her daughter couldn’t go to a mainstream school.
“Vision Australia is a perfect school. At a mainstream school she is different to other children. She’ll feel more excluded than included,” she said.
Ms Woodman is hoping with enough community support, she can get the decision made by the Vision Australia Board reversed.
“We don’t mind where it goes, just as long as it remains open and doesn’t shut completely,” she said.
Fellow Narre Warren South resident Carolyn Pearson and her 12-year-old son Chad are also in the same boat.
Ms Pearson says her son, who is legally blind as a result of being diagnosed with a brain tumour when he was six months old, has been attending the Burwood centre since 2001.
Ms Pearson said her son wouldn’t be able to cope in a mainstream school.
“We tried it for 12 months and he just went backwards,” she said.
Ms Woodman agrees that every child should have the right to attend a mainstream school, but believes not every child has that capability.
Vision Australia CEO Gerard Menses said the organisation believed children with no or low vision had a right to be educated in a mainstream setting supported by specialist services.
He said the decision was made in the best interests of children, encouraging their full integration into mainstream systems.
The services at the centre will cease on 18 December and Vision Australia has committed to continue supporting students on a needs assessed basis during the 2010 school year.
