In an historic new partnership between government and indigenous organisations, the Closing the Gap program is undergoing a major reset. A key Indigenous group is disappointed that disability has not been included in the 16 new Closing the Gap targets. While disability is a significant issue in health, education, justice and employment, it hasn’t been included as a target.
Regional Disability Advocacy Service executive officer Martin Butcher said people had been overwhelmed by the ‘border resident’ zone and permit application system. “Care workers who go into people’s homes are having difficulty moving from one side of the border to the other,” he said.
The residents, who live with intellectual disabilities and autism, are in a household of six at Pascoe Vale in Melbourne’s northern suburbs run by Aruma.
Three police officers who assaulted a disability pensioner on his front lawn after they attended his home for a welfare check have been spared jail. Senior constables Brad McLeod, John Edney and Florian Hilgart were found guilty last Friday of a combined six charges over their use of force against the pensioner, John, outside his Preston home on September 19, 2017.
National Disability Insurance Scheme participants in New South Wales and Victoria who rely on face-to-face supports will now be able to use NDIS funding to buy masks and other personal protective equipment (PPE), the federal government has announced.
A group of local fintechs is preparing to line-up against global technology giants and big banks in a beauty parade for the federal government’s new digital claims and payments system for the $20 billion-plus National Disability Insurance Scheme.
Linda Burnip from DPAC attests to that fact, saying, “It’s difficult from the information that’s available to know exactly why the death rate has been so high for disabled people. But from the very start… there have been legal challenges because everything the government has done has basically been a breach of disabled people’s human rights”.
Understanding what evidence the NDIA requires to prove a person’s psychosocial disability has left both Participants and professionals confused. In particular, professional reports frequently miss the mark.
Dozens of people with disability have raised concerns with a royal commission about their experiences during the coronavirus pandemic. The Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability will hold a public hearing next month focused on the pandemic’s impact.
In my state, Victoria, plans to return to the office have been foiled by a second wave of Covid-19. While the circumstances in Melbourne are extremely difficult, I must admit “normal” has not been my bag for a very long time.
For some time, royal commissions, commissions of inquiry and regulators have been stating that boards of directors of human service organisations are responsible for their organisation observing and promoting the human rights of the people the organisation supports, and for the quality and safety of services being delivered.
or Ronelle – who has two children with disability who attend mainstream schools in rural Victoria – the move to remote learning has highlighted the inequality in Australia’s school system.
New rules on wearing face masks have caused particular issues for deaf people and those who are hard of hearing, prompting calls for patience. Deaf Victoria and the Disability Advocacy Resource Unit say the mask rules, which apply in metropolitan Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire, require particular sensitivity for the deaf and hard-of-hearing community.
The disability civil rights movement has many distinct narratives, but the prevailing themes are of community, justice and equity. As with every other civil rights movement, the fight for disability rights is one that challenges negative attitudes and pushes back against oppression. But it is also more complex.
“I got bullied because of my disability, I used to get called a cripple or a spastic everywhere I went. That stuff made it really hard for me — and I believed them. I believed I was less than them.” Alcott said that changed when he went to his first wheelchair tennis tournament, where he said his eyes were opened.