People with Disabilities can now be Jurors in Canberra
People with disabilities are no longer automatically exempt from jury duty in Canberra, after new laws passed the ACT Legislative Assembly on Tuesday.
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Stephen Hawking has passed away at age 76
As remarkable as he was, in an almost unbelievable coincidence his life was also bookended by genius: he was born on the 300th anniversary of Galileo Galilei’s death and passed away on the 139th anniversary of Einstein’s birth. Professor Hawking, who was diagnosed with motor neurone disease at 21, never let his disability affect his curiosity and desire to learn, dedicating his life to study the universe and its origins.
Mind the Gap report highlights NDIS inconsistencies
The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is failing most people with severe mental illness, according to Endeavour Mental Health Recovery Clubhouse. The clubhouse’s Advisory Committee chair Bob Boss-Walker said mental health consumers were applying for the NDIS but being rejected because they didn’t meet the criteria.
NDIS contractors not equipped to deal with complex, emotional cases, insider says
New figures show nearly 1,000 labour hire employees are working for the NDIS. Third-party companies are being thrown tens of millions of dollars to employ these staff. But the public sector union claims some of the workers have no background in disability services, and are paid “significantly less than the public servant sitting next to them”.
The NDIS: A personal perspective
Well, the National Disability Insurance Scheme has finally achieved what dealing with the daily challenges of living with a high-level disability (quadriplegia) for 45 years could not. I now hate my disability. I have never felt so powerless, so angry, so hemmed in, so sickened by the injustice I and so many others with disability are facing. I have never felt so disabled. And it is all because of the NDIS.
Greens Senator Jordon Steele-John calls for more public servants with disabilities
Greens senator Jordon Steele-John says it is time for the Australian public service to commit to a target to increase the number of employees with a disability. “I think whether it’s a target or a quota, when you’re looking at things like this you’ve got to put your money where your mouth is,” he said.
Fears non-English speakers are being left behind in NDIS
It has been more than one year since the full National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) began rolling out across Australia, and less than eight per cent of the 130,455 active participants have a culturally or linguistically diverse background.
The Roundtable – “Delivering for people with a disability: is the NDIS meeting its goals?”
From July this year New South Wales and South Australia the NDIS will be fully rolled out. But many disabled people and their families – and their advocates – claim the system isn’t delivering.
Alastair McEwin looks back on 25 years of the DDA
25 years ago today – 1 March – the Disability Discrimination Act came into effect. It was Australia’s first piece of legislation to protect the rights of people with disability. A quarter of a century on, the DDA has been used by thousands to fight discrimination in areas including employment, education and access to goods and services.
Industry push to make online banking more accessible for disabled Australians
Large portions of online content hosted by Australia’s biggest financial organisations are not accessible to people with a disability. According to a recent crawl of the websites of 50 of Australia’s largest financial organisations, on average 41 per cent of their website content is not accessible to people with a disability.