The submission makes 33 recommendations about how the Commonwealth and State Governments, and service providers including education, employment, health and disability services, can take responsibility to uphold human rights, ensure inclusion, and maintain environments where people with disability from diverse backgrounds feel safe and included.
Submission by the Office of Public Advocate to the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability.
The report, Experiences of ABI and inclusion: Reflections on inclusion drawn from lived experience is part of OPA’s submission on how we can become a more inclusive society.
the submission focuses on eight key areas which need to change to make a material, lasting difference in the lives of people with disability. These are reforming Australia’s Discrimination Laws; enabling a path out of COVID for disabled people; lifting disabled people out of poverty; finding homes to thrive in; making Inclusive Education Work; a right to justice; making healthcare accessible; delivering the promise of NDIS; and levelling up to address gaps and barriers in service provision in the ACT.
The submission is informed by the collective knowledge and experience of independent disability advocacy member organisations. It explores the context, key barriers and challenges for the disability advocacy sector and outlines recommendations to support achieving positive outcomes for people with disability throughout Australia by eliminating the risk of experiencing violence, abuse, neglect or exploitation.
The guidelines are intended to guide and support States parties, in their efforts to realise the right of persons with disabilities to live independently and be included in the community, and to be the basis for planning deinstitutionalisation processes and prevention of institutionalisation. Institutionalisation is a discriminatory practice against persons with disabilities, contrary to article 5 of the Convention. It involves de facto denial of the legal capacity of persons with disabilities, in breach of article 12. It constitutes detention and deprivation of liberty based on impairment, contrary to article 14. States parties should recognise institutionalisation as a form of violence against persons with disabilities.
This plan aims to put people with disabilities and their perspectives first in conversations about the future of the NDIS. It is meant to amplify the exceptional work already going on in the sector. Emerging themes voiced by NDIS Participants include trust in the NDIS needs to be restored by making vital changes to the Scheme. As part of this process, the NDIS must return to its original purpose, which includes providing community or “tier 2” supports. The experience of participants throughout the NDIS needs to be prioritised, meaningful choice and control must be provided for participants, and vulnerable participants need to get the support they deserve.
The bottom line of that analysis is although … a contested issue, my own view is the better view of the Convention’s obligation, in particular Article 24, is that Australia needs to move progressively over some time to have [a] transformed system with inclusive education, which does not, as a matter of principle, include special schools as a long-term separate form of education. And I think that is also a position taken by the CRPD Committee.”
The National Disability Advocacy Framework is a shared commitment to disability advocacy between the Commonwealth, state and territory governments to ensure there is access to advocacy services for all people with disabilities nation-wide. However, the current state of play is that advocacy – a key safeguard – is not currently assured.
VCOSS welcomes the opportunity to provide a submission to the Review of the Disability Act 2006 (Vic). It is important that the new Act is robust and comprehensive in promoting and protecting the rights of all Victorians with disability. This submission focuses on mechanisms that promote inclusion (the State Disability Plan, disability action plans and the Victorian Disability Advisory Council), and safeguards and rights protections (including Community Visitors, residential rights and limits to restrictive practices).
This is the disability sector’s statement on the Australian Government’s planned reforms to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). – People with disability, their families and the organisations that represent them are all worried about changes the Australian Government wants to make to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). We want the scheme to be consistent and fair. But we also want to make sure that people with disability get the support they need. There are too many unanswered questions and concerns for this proposal to continue in its current form. We therefore request…
This Issues Paper is specifically prompted by concerns that the NDIA’s proposed model of mandatory independent assessments will reinforce the growing inequalities in the Scheme. Instead of improving access and reducing out-of-pocket expenses, independent assessments will present another hurdle for people with disability. This hurdle will be higher and harder for people who experience multiple and intersecting forms of disadvantage, and will add another layer of stress, complexity and anguish for people with disability seeking support.
The signatory organisations urge the National Disability Insurance Agency to commit to halting the currently proposed reforms and rebuilding them with an end-to-end process directly involving people with disability, in line with Australia’s obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disability and the objects and principles of the NDIS Act itself.
Yet, the NDIA have already decided that independent assessments will go ahead and that they will be mandatory. They have not done the research or evaluation necessary to prove that independent assessments will work for people with intellectual disability, particularly for people with multiple disabilities and people with complex support needs. The NDIA have not answered our questions about how independent assessments will be used to determine an individual’s support needs.
This submission is in response to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) discussion paper on Support Coordination.
The quality of NDS plans, including the provision of Support Coordination funding, largely depends on people’s capacity to learn about and understand the system and to self-advocate. People experiencing multiple and intersecting forms of disadvantage and isolation face greater challenges at every stage of the NDIS journey, from finding out how it works to accessing the Scheme, developing a plan and connecting to services.