Consider a packed, dimly lit nightclub full of loud raucous conversations and music. It can cause sensory overload for neurodiverse people, prompting them to wonder if they should have stayed home because they find it incredibly difficult to acclimatise to an unaccommodating reality. It is far more difficult to meet new people and form friendships … Continued
Suncorp Group insurer, AAMI has joined brands ANZ, Bonds, Kia, McDonalds, Oral-B, nib, Tourism Australia, Pantene, TikTok, Uber, Virgin and Weet-Bix™ in launching the Shift 20 Initiative – committing to transforming their advertising to increase representation, inclusion and accessibility for people with disability.
Have you noticed any changes to television commercials for some of Australia’s best-known brands recently? The Weet-Bix kid, who dreams of scaling Everest, is in a wheelchair. The Bonds model is signing in Auslan. The ANZ employee who tells her colleague to stop speaking in a ridiculous voice is a bilateral above-knee amputee. And the … Continued
Felicity Thompson bought just one thing for her unborn daughter — a tiny outfit to bury her in. The Perth nurse had been told her baby would probably die. Then, when she was 30 weeks pregnant, doctors said the baby would live and diagnosed her with Russell-Silver Syndrome.
I am flying to Byron Bay for some writers’ festival events, which I’m looking forward to. From Melbourne to Ballina, the closest airport, is a two-hour direct flight. But the airline has refused to take me unless I travel with a carer. Its policy is to refuse assistance to disabled people who can’t transfer to … Continued
Jason East sits behind the steering wheel of a pontoon boat with nothing but the gentle breeze off the water and the passing sailboats to distract him. “When you’re out on the water it’s like leaving your disability behind,” Mr East says. “We’re all equal on the water and there’s a real freedom in that.”
The Women with Disabilities Victoria (WDV) Experts by Experience Advocates (Experts) are a group of 12 women with diverse experiences of disability. The Experts support the development of policies, products and services by sharing their lived experience expertise through consultations and co design sessions. The Experts meetings are held monthly on Thursdays, from 11:00am to … Continued
Would you like to make a difference in the community and ensure that the needs and concerns of people with disabilities, their families, and carers are addressed effectively? If the answer is yes, the City of Casey invites you to express your interest in joining its Disability Access and Inclusion Advisory Group.
Dating can be a challenging and overwhelming experience for anyone, but if you’ve got a disability, the barriers can be much higher. Just ask Jerusha Mather. The biomedical student with cerebral palsy said she found dating especially difficult because of negative attitudes and stereotypes
Together: Building an Inclusive Youth Sector is an online resource that supports the Victorian youth sector and those who work with young people to be more accessible and inclusive of young disabled people. Together ensures that disabled young people have their human rights met and are able to access the same services and community activities … Continued
Every July, during Disability Pride Month, disabled people and disability communities struggle with the same fundamental question. Are things really a lot better now for disabled people than they were 50 years ago? Or, is ableism just as bad now, or even worse than in the old days?
Key Points The social model states that society is the primary cause of disability, so it is a social responsibility. A new study finds that social model beliefs about disability were associated with more COVID-19 precautions. People with stronger social model beliefs were more concerned about disabled people contracting COVID-19.
2022’s Merriam-Webster Word Of The Year was “gaslighting.” It’s both an apt term for a set of real and serious experiences, and an overused word that threatens to trivialize those same experiences. Either way, “gaslighting” feels especially familiar to many people with disabilities. The word seems to name and give form to one of the most common, but hard … Continued
Hearing and vision-impaired Australians lack the accessible information they need to make an informed decision on the Indigenous Voice to Parliament, advocates say.
Closing date: October 31, 2023
The new Disability, Diversity and Inclusion Initiative in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Melbourne invites Expressions of Interest for a PhD. The Initiative aims to create and promote safe and socially just futures, where people with disability have access, are included and their diversity valued in all facets of social, political and … Continued