As he approaches his 90th year, Professor Trevor Parmenter AM continues to be well served by a good memory. Of his studies in education and psychology at UNE, the many lessons he learnt during those formative years, and of the myriad students he himself later taught and mentored.
Even today, almost 60 years since he enrolled at UNE, those memories still inform his research and advocacy in the field of disability studies.
“From the first country school I taught in after graduating from Armidale Teacher’s College to the special education classes I helped pioneer, I saw the discrimination that some students experience; how the slow learners were seen as nothing by their school communities,” Trevor said. “I still draw today on the experiences of students I have personally taught or helped.”
Following 11 years teaching in one-teacher schools, Trevor was appointed to head the Slow Learners Unit at Macquarie High School and then the Partially Seeing Unit at Northmead High. It was while working there, in 1965, that he was encouraged to pursue a Bachelor of Arts at UNE by distance education. He was still studying at UNE when appointed principal of Hassall Street Special School in Parramatta in 1970, before becoming one of the inaugural staff of Macquarie University’s Special Education Centre four years later.
Exposure to neuroscience at UNE proved invaluable for a passionate educator intrigued by what constituted intelligence, how the brain worked and what influenced a student’s performance.
“UNE’s distance education was superb and it was at UNE that I found significant mentors,” Trevor said. “My studies led to a subsequent doctoral degree at Macquarie and seriously influenced how I taught special education, moving from a medical model of disability to a social one.”
Trevor Parmenter at his graduation in 1972.
Trevor’s own influence ever since has been profound. He led the integration of visually impaired students into mainstream classes, pioneered work experience for people with intellectual disabilities in Australia in 1971 and helped develop some of the country’s first work preparation centres. After a 21-year teaching career, this culminated in Trevor helping to establish the Centre for Community Integration Studies at Macquarie University in 1974, specialising in research into employment and community living for people with intellectual and development disabilities.
Trevor’s focus broadened further with a move to the University of Sydney, to become director of the Centre for Disability Studies, in 1997, and Foundation Professor of Developmental Disability. But at every turn his ambition has been to improve the quality of life for people with disabilities, through teaching and the practical application of evidence-based research.
“It has been a deeply rewarding career, teaching young teachers who have gone on to become highly skilled special educators and seeing scholars I have supervised influence disability policies and practices,” Trevor said. “But most exciting of all has been seeing former students I taught in special classes now enjoying a good life in the community. People with disabilities are a reflection of the whole human condition. Their intrinsic humanity challenges us all to reflect upon our own humanity.”
For while Trevor says he has seen wonderful improvements in the lives of people with disabilities – including access to better early intervention, educational opportunities, employment and supported community living – the “journey is not ended”.
“We have people with disabilities in the community but not yet of it,” he said. “They won’t be of it until relationships are fully developed, which are key to all forms of community acceptance. That’s why I keep fighting for all people to enjoy the same life experiences and for real inclusive education and job opportunities that accept difference. We will all experience a disability at some stage in our lives, so we need to identify with those with lifelong disabilities with humility.”
In 2005, Trevor was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for his services to education and particularly his contributions to research, teaching and services to people with developmental disabilities. A year later, he became a UNE Distinguished Alumni Award winner, in recognition of both his work in Australia and role as an advisor to the World Health Organisation and International Labour Organization.
As well as an Adjunct Professor at UNE’s School of Rural Medicine, Trevor is Professor Emeritus at the Sydney Medical School, where he continues to supervise doctoral students and publish research, most latterly on quality of life and ageing among those with a disability.
“My teaching and research life is full and continuing, and I trace that back to UNE and Armidale Teacher’s College,” Trevor said. “We are all born with talents. Some have more talent than others, and if you are gifted with talents then you should use them for the betterment of others. That’s been one of the guiding forces in my life.”
