When

Tuesday 5th August, 2014: 1:30am - 2:30am

Where

Park A

Speaker

Session Summary

Judy Huett, a leading self advocate from Tasmania, talks about her work on boards and committees including representing Australia on the UN Committee on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Geneva.

 

Audio podcast

 

Transcript

SUE SMITH:
Welcome everybody my name is Sue Smith i work at the Self Advocacy Resource Unit. This year it was our absolute pleasure and we were thrilled that she accepted, to invite Judy to be the saru key note speaker at the conference.

It really was about making change happen on the world stage. Judy has a remarkable list of achievements. I was coming in with Judy’s friend Naomi from the airport when i picked them up on sunday. Naomi said at the back of the car when I grow up i want to be Judy Huett.

She started telling me Judy had been to Geneva, London, going back to Tassie, going back to Sydney, Canberra and I’m like I think I agree with you Naomi I would like to be Judy and travel the world.

Judy, I have a little bit from her biography. A 40 year old woman with a disability who lives in Tasmania with her husband Peter. In 2010 she was awarded the Tasmanian Disability Achievement Award and in 2012 the International Award for Human Rights for her long standing commitment to promoting the human rights of people with intellectual disability and their contribution at local, national and international levels in developing self advocacy. You can see why we’re thrilled that Judy accepted our invitation to be our key note speaker.

In 2013 judy travelled to Geneva as part of an expert group to talk and present at the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Geneva is in Switzerland. Now you see why we all want to be Judy. She currently works as a self-advocacy liaison for Speak Out Association of Tasmania but that’s where the info in the program stops.

She is also on the national council for disability board, she is on the Our Voice committee, she is on the Tasmanian Premiers Disability Advisory Council, she was a nominee for Australian of the Year. It is my great pleasure to introduce Judy as our key note speaker to talk about being a champion of change on the world stage. Thanks judy.

(applause)

JUDY HUETT:
Thank you everyone for having me here. Good morning everyone. I’d like to share with you my journey to the 10th session on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. There is an international convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. It means that all countries should make sure that people with disabilities are treated equal. Equal as everyone else.

Australia signed the Convention in 2008, it means that the Australian Government said it would make sure people with disabilities are treated equal with everyone else. A United Nations Committee reviewed each country and these are the countries they reviewed (LIST ON SLIDE).

Last year it was Australia’s turn to tell the committee what they were doing for the rights of people with disabilities in Australia. A report was written by five people with disabilities and their support and advocacy organisations. This report says since 2008 things have gotten better for people with disabilities but could get a lot better.

The Australian Government and people with disabilities met at the United Nations in September 2013. I wanted people with disabilities to be represented at the United Nations. I applied to be part of this group and was accepted.

Speak Out helped me prepare for the meeting and the trip to the United Nations in Geneva. The person alongside me was my support who came from Switzerland, he came from Geneva.  I met with a group in Sydney and we prepared for our trip. These are some of the members of the delegation (IMAGE ON SLIDE).

I’ll leave you lingering for a while and see who you can see there. We have Rosemary Kayess from the Australian Centre for Disability Law. We had Therese Sands from People with Disabilities Australia. We had Damien Griffis from People First Network. We had Carolyn Frohmader from Women with Disabilities Australia. We had David Hefendorf from People with Disabilities ACT and Judy Huett, I don’t know who she is but she came from Speak Out. I was the only person with an intellectual disability on that delegation. We had Paul Cain from National Council on Intellectual Disability. Steven Giovanni who used to be from ACTO. We had Raja Ralph from Physical Disability Australia and Domonique who was my support person.

Geneva is in Switzerland. It’s a European headquarters of the United Nations. It took 28 hours flying time to get there from Launceston, which was a long way.

We arrived in Geneva, the group prepared statements on what they wanted to be done for people with disabilities in Australia. We were invited by the Australian Ambassador at the time at the Australian Mission to celebrate the 20th Century of the Human Rights Commission.

We talked to Graeme Innes the former Disability Discrimination Commissioner. An exhibition was launched at Palais des National in Geneva by the Direct General of the Governor of the United Nations in Geneva and Peter Wilcock the Ambassador and Belinda Hanson was the photographer that took our photo here. The exhibition is about Aboriginal people living with disabilities presented by People Firsts Network.

I learnt a lot about Aboriginal people living with disabilities. Did you know one out of two Aboriginal people has a disability or health condition? They have less access to work than anybody else in Australia. They have less education than anybody else in Australia. And many go to jail because there is nowhere for them to live.

I thought it was a good idea getting a practice in with one of my speeches.  Domonique and I wrote a report each night of what the group did during the day in easy read of course which we had copies but we didn’t bring them along this time.

The next day we talked to the Australian Government about issues we wanted to talk to the Committee about. It was not all work, we went to some really nice restaurants for tea in Geneva and here I am with Paul Cain from National Council on Intellectual Disability (image on slide). Some of you might know Paul.

The first day at the United Nations. This is the room where it all happened. People spoke different languages so we could hear the translation in our headsets. The 10th session started. The Australian Ambassador talked about what the Government is doing right for people with disabilities in Australia. Rosemary and Theresa Sands they presented our group to the committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Then it was our turn to speak.

Damien spoke about the rights of Aboriginal people with disabilities in Australia. Brett Casey, Brett uses sign language. He talked about people with disabilities being in jail unfairly. Carolyn, she talked about the rights of women with disabilities. And David, he said that the Australian Government should consult more with people with disabilities.

I talked about two issues that I’m passionate about. The first, the Australian Government need to close institutions now and sheltered workshops are not right. People with disabilities who work there don’t get enough money for the job that they do. I was told I was the first person with an intellectual disability from Australia to ever speak at the United Nations Committee for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

We talked directly to the committee members and this is Eda Minya (?) from Kenya. The committee members are from all around the world, from Thailand, Denmark, Korea, Chili and Kenya. I was just lucky enough to speak to a few of these. I thought they were very keen to listen to me and about the issues people with disabilities have in Australia.

The committee then asked questions for the Australian Government. The Ambassador said he needed time to answer questions. The committee gave him two days to respond. The committee has now given their report and I’ll talk about that in a few minutes.

Our last meeting, we had our last meeting before everyone went their own separate ways. We were very pleased with how the 10th session went. Then it was time to party.

(laughter)

Visiting Geneva after all our hard work Domonique showed me Geneva and their mountains. This is Largado (?) 180 metres high. These are some of the pictures that we took in Geneva and the lady sitting beside me on the boat is Domonique’s mum. Behind me is the highest mountain in Europe. Mont-Blanc is 4,808 metres high. It is nearly four times higher than Mount Wellington in Tasmania. And here we are at 3,800 metres high and it was difficult to breath. We took a big cable cart up to the mountain.

The 4th of October 2013, the committee released their observation reports. Australia has to do better for Aboriginal people with disabilities. Australia has to do better for women with disabilities. Australia must close institutions that are still open and people in sheltered workshops are paid unfair wage, that must stop now.

I’m very happy that the committee listened to me and agreed that the institutions must close now. And people with disabilities need to get a fair wage. I’m very pleased to be able to put in practice Nothing About Us Without Us. These are the following organisations that supported us to get to Geneva. Now I’m not going to read them all out because there are a fair few there.

Thank you and have a good afternoon.

SUE SMITH:
Thanks Judy. Now we’re going to do the next bit in a few parts. I thought we would do some questions and answers about Judy’s experience in Geneva. I have to compliment you on your French accent. I thought we would have some questions and answers about the experience in Geneva and then we’ll come back and talk a bit about your experiences in Australia on national committees and boards. Does anyone have any questions about Judy’s experiences in Geneva? Go to greg.

QUESTION:
Greg from the Casey Group. I reckon that went really well really, there’s nothing wrong with meeting the panel there. I reckon they worked very hard, they deserve a medal I reckon. And by the way have other groups that’s the last meeting for the day where we’re going to hear about 4.30. I would hope I did well. Thank you very much for having us.

sue smith:
Thanks Greg and Greg is a member of one of the newest self-advocacy groups to start in Shepparton. First conference greg?

GREG:
I hope I get a medal.

SUE SMITH:
thanks Greg.

PENELOPE:
Hi Judy my name is Penelope. Thanks for sharing your story and lucky duck to have the pleasure of going. I would like to know how could we access the easy read information and further information that you showed on the screen. I realise time wise you can’t go through it all. How can we obtain copies of what you produced whilst over there please?

JUDY HUETT:
Sorry I couldn’t hear the question Sue.

PENELOPE:
I’m Penelope, thank you for sharing. Would love to know how we can access the easy read and the further information that you showed us and the reports you submitted and so forth. How can we obtain that, is it possible?

JUDY HUETT:
I can certainly send it through SARU, there is also information on the People with Disabilities Australia website, PWDA in easy English.

PENELOPE:
Great thank you again for sharing your story.

SUE SMITH:
Another one down here.

QUESTION:
Thanks for your talk Judy that was great, I’m really fascinated. How hard was the application process to go, to be part of that team that went and Part B did you have some fondue when you were in Geneva? I love Geneva I think it’s great and the food is awesome.

JUDY HUETT:
The application was quite hard to fill out. I had support in doing that from the speaker where I had to put my CV and other information together. That didn’t take one day it took I reckon 2 to 3 days at max because they needed all the information squished together in one. It was a lot of work. What was the other part of your question?

QUESTION:
Did you get to try fondue?

JUDY HUETT:
No I didn’t, next time. I only had one actual day where I could look around Geneva. The rest was work.

SUE SMITH:
Thanks. Maurice…

MAURICE:
Hi Judy, Morris Gleeson first of all I would like to also agree with what the other people have said. Your presentation was excellent, you were very clear and descriptive so I congratulate you and you’re obviously a great advocate of people with intellectual disability.

Judy in the area of support of employment in principal I concur with you that employees are under paid but when we talk about closing them down my main concern is what would we do in replacement, what would these people do?

I have friends of mine who do work in supportive employment and that’s a big part of their lives. In principle I agree with closing them but how would we ensure they were employed in some way?

JUDY HUETT:
I actually wasn’t talking about closing ADE’s. I was actually talking about closing institutions. The other concern that I had was getting more money for people in sheltered workshops because I think people in sheltered workshops do a really great job but I don’t think they get the money that they deserve.

SUE SMITH:
Thanks Judy. Trudy.

TRUDY:
Hi Judy, a very good presentation. My question is you know the year end convention, did it cover other disability groups such as deaf, blind, which is quite different?

JUDEY HUETT:
It covered all aspects of disability. It covered intellectual, I’m sure it would’ve covered deaf and blindness.

TRUDY:
Okay thank you.

SUE SMITH:
Trudy someone from the Deaf blind self advocacy group should apply for the next convention i think.

PATSIE:
Hi Judy, PatsIE here. Congratulations that was a really wonderful presentation. My question for you is about being the first person with an intellectual disability speaking about intellectual disability both within a group of Australian people with disabilities and internationally.

For you was there also things that the other people talked about that were important for people with an intellectual disability as well? For example did Carolyn talk about stuff to do with women with disabilities that was about women with intellectual disabilities? Were you able to join the dots with other people?

JUDY HUETT:
Yeah I was and with Carolyn who spoke about women with disabilities she spoke about women with intellectual disabilities as well. We were able to network a lot and we did a lot of that networking during our breaks as well as during the…yeah.

SUE SMITH:
Thanks Judy.  Another question over here.

QUESTION:
Hi Judy. I’m someone who also has an intellectual disability probably from having a seizure because I have epilepsy. Because you were the first person there who has an intellectual disability I was wondering how is it the Ambassador or the gentleman from Australia who was representing the Government or the Department, how he came across? Had he been aware and taken intellectual disability seriously that kind of thing or had we kind of been looked over because we didn’t have I don’t know epilepsy tattooed across our forehead or intellectual disability across our forehead? Because we look like everyone else we didn’t get acknowledged I suppose?

JUDY HUETT:
No we certainly made an impact. When I spoke about those two issues it actually made an impact because when I came back I actually spoke to different Government organisations about what I had done and they fed back to their organisations.

But no we certainly did make an impact, which I felt really pleased about and I felt really proud about because they were actually listening. They weren’t just sitting there going oh yes and this person has an intellectual disability and rolling their eyes. They were sitting there oh wow, this person she comes from a background of she has an intellectual disability so we’ll listen.

SUE SMITH:
Thanks Judy.

QUESTION:
I work in a workshop too and it’s in Dorset Rd and I work for people and some are in wheelchairs and things like that.

SUE SMITH:
you work in a sheltered workshop and it’s okay. do you think you should be paid more?

QUESTION:
Yes.

QUESTION:
Judy I’m just wondering I read that enable you were showing us on the screen and I quite like how the UN has put in parents with disability but I’m concerned that in some states Victoria would be one and I’m sure a lot of others follow us where removal of children with parents with an intellectual disability is extremely high. It’s like the next best thing since sliced bread.

I know Australia has both signed and ratified that they will follow the UN and I’m concerned they’re not because for people with disability it says the country will help and provide support to parents with a disability and the child will not be removed just because of disability, which is exactly what happened in my case.

I’m wondering how can we best lobby? Is that only state-wide which I know it’s not, I know it’s all over Australia? How can we make the Government stand up to what they’ve signed and make the Government do what they’ve said they will do?

JUDY HUETT:
I guess with the help of Women With Disabilities Australia and standing up and fighting, standing up and going to your local politicians, writing to them, even writing to the Prime Minister would be a start. But I certainly do know that Women With Disabilities Australia is doing a lot of work around that as well. Sorry, Women With Disabilities Victoria would be doing a fair bit of lobbying as well. If you’re in with that or if you can make yourself known to them I’m sure that there would be some assistance there.

SUE SMITH:
Judy would you recommend when people do lobby that they always quote the article on the UN to remind the government, you signed this and you committed to this?

JUDY HUETT:
Yes, definitely.

SUE SMITH:
Someone else had their hand up?

PENELOPE:
Hi again, Penelope here, I forgot to ask was there anyone there that represented mental illness and or chronic condition by any chance?

JUDY HUETT:
You’ve stumped me a bit there Penelope. I’m not really sure, perhaps after the session we could have a chat and I could tell you who was there.

SUE SMITH:
Got Maurice again.

MAURICE:
Judy this might be a difficult question to answer, you mentioned the convention in September in 2013?

JUDY HUETT:
Yes that’s correct.

MAURICE:
Do you think now we’ve had a change of Government, do you have any feeling what impact it may make for the direction we’re going? It might be a very difficult question because it’s quite complicated at the moment.

JUDY HUETT:
It is a difficult question but I’m hoping the Government will listen to us especially when we stand up for things that we believe in.

SUE SMITH:
Any more questions?

ELISA:
Hi Judy, I’m Elisa. I want to know if you as a group received any acknowledgement from the Government for the input you gave to the report and secondly if you’ve received feedback on how that’s progressing with the Australian Government, if they’ve started implementing any of the recommendations?

JUDY HUETT:
The input would’ve gone to PWDA and the acknowledgement would’ve gone to them as well as they were the head people that went. But as far as I’ve heard I know they acknowledged us for going over there but implementation I think they’ve started a little bit but I think they need to do more.

JANE:
Judy since you’ve been overseas, the institutions over there are they still all open or are they going to ever close down? I know in Australia we need to close all these institutions down where they’re being built in NSW and all that.

JUDY HUETT:
Yeah I’m not really sure on the institutions because there are a wide range of countries. I couldn’t comment on them all. I’m not sure on that one Jane, sorry about that.

SUE SMITH:
I certainly know there is a lot still in the United States, big ones.

Would you like to tell us all where you’re off to next when you leave this conference and what you will be doing?

JUDY HUETT:
I’m going to Canberra after the conference here and I’m a judge on National Disability Awards Panel. I’m flying on Thursday and we’re doing the judging on Friday.

SUE SMITH:
And now you know why we all want to be Judy.

SUSAN:
I thought the UN was signed and ratified in July 2008. My daughter was born in September in that year which was just a few months after.

Could I be expecting too much from the Government so to speak to be supporting me that soon after signing and ratifying something? Would you think it would take months, years or however long for the Government to get all these things they’ve said yes to in place?

JUDY HUETT:
I think it would take years Susan to actually get them to answer one by one that they will do that unfortunately.

SUE SMITH:
Judy i have two questions, were there many other countries delegations that included people with disability?

JUDY HUETT:
Not that I’m aware of or know of.

SUE SMITH:
Would it be fair to say people with intellectual disability were under represented?

JUDY HUETT:
Definitely.

SUE SMITH:
People you met from other countries was there similar problems, similar stories by people with disabilities in other countries?

JUDY HUETT:
Yes there were, same things in different countries. Employment for instance we talked about, we talked to different countries about employment and they had the same issues we had it was just a different country.

SUE SMITH:
It’s universal issues that affect everyone. I’m going to ask questions now Judy on the national stage. There are a lot of boards and committees, do you find there is enough people with disabilities represented on those boards and committees nationally?

JUDY HUETT:
No.

SUE SMITH:
What are some things they could be doing to fully include people with intellectual disabilities from your opinion and experience?

JUDY HUETT:
I think people with intellectual disabilities need to stand up and say hey I’m here so you all can get a go. You can all have a chance to be on these committees.

SUE SMITH:
You’ve talked about two of your passions, closing institutions and sheltered workshops. When you go on to the boards and committees what other things do you advocate for for people with intellectual disabilities?

JUDY HUETT:
I like to advocate for funding and as I said closing institutions, employment, NDIS how that’s going and how it’s trialling out in the states and territories, what are the good things and bad things.

SUE SMITH:
Has NDIS come to Tasmania yet Judy?

JUDY HUETT:
It has but on 15 to 20 year olds?

QUESTION:
Do you know when the older generation (inaudible – too far away)?

JUDY HUETT:
No, I’m hoping at some stage the NDIS will roll out for all ages in Tasmania.

SUE SMITH:
You’re also a big mover in self advocacy and self advocacy groups in Tasmania. Tasmania has a strong self advocacy movement. Why is self advocacy and self advocacy groups, which we know are under funded, why do you think they’re important? What do you think about lobbying more funding for it and why are you passionate about it?

JUDY HUETT:
Why am I passionate, in Tasmania we have two advocacy services. One helps people with mental illnesses and one that helps people with intellectual disabilities and physical disabilities.

Why I’m passionate about advocacy is because sometimes we don’t get the funding, advocacy services don’t get the funding they need to help people like us. I guess that’s where I get my passion for self-advocacy because if you need help the services aren’t there as in…I don’t know how to explain that. But self-advocacy has always been a passion of mine, standing up for people’s rights and telling them about their rights.

One story I have, we took two people in wheelchairs through a Maccas drive thru because we couldn’t get through the door. They were wondering why we were going through the drive thru, hey you can’t get through the door you go through the drive thru. That’s one of many.

SUE SMITH:
Jenny you had a couple of questions about being on boards and committees for Judy.

JENNY:
Judy can you tell us about the board or committee you’re involved with that’s the most important to you?

JUDY HUETT:
I guess the National Council on Intellectual Disability is one of the boards that I guess I’m passionate about because it helps strengthen intellectual disability. It also helps provide support when you need it.

I sit on the board and if there are things that people are talking way above my head I can say hey stop and they go what, what. You’re talking way above my head, you need to talk at my level. It’s really important for people to say hey stop, you need to be talking in my language, be talking in an easier way so I can understand. Then I can relay that back to others.

SUE SMITH:
Are there boards or committees you’ve been on that haven’t been so inclusive or could’ve lifted their game maybe in including people with easy english?

JUDY HUETT:
Yes there have been a couple of boards although one board in particular that I sat on for a long time and I ended up having to resign from that board due to unforeseen circumstances.

SUE SMITH:
So it’s important then for boards and committees to talk to people about what their needs are, how to be inclusive of every member.

JUDY HUETT:
Yeah definitely.

SUE SMITH:
Anyone have any questions about Judy’s experience on a national level on boards and committees?

(no questions)

Thank you so much Judy for that.

JUDY HUETT:
Thank you for having me.

SUE SMITH:
I have to let you know this morning i got up really early, I bought a beautiful bag, a beautiful thank you card and some presents and I left them in my kitchen.  But I do have someone coming in so Judy pretend you’re getting a virtual thank you very much for coming all the way from Tassie to speak to us. Everyone I would like to thank Judy so much for agreeing to come over and share her experiences with us. I think it’s been really insightful and I have learnt a lot too. Thank you very much.