Posted November 2, 2020
This research report investigated the extent and use of the Commonwealth’s legislative powers that enable it to provide support for and protect the rights of people with disability. It has found three distinct periods of time in which the Commonwealth positively moved to support its citizens with disability. It also says there is more scope for the Commonwealth to further expand its support for persons with disability and its legislative protection of their rights.
Posted November 2, 2020
This report describes the international human rights context in which the Royal Commission operates. The report investigated the early rights movement of people with disability from the 1960s and 1970s through to the present day, which “exposed the power relations inherent to the medical model of disability, and which is commonly referred to as ‘ableism’”.
Posted October 27, 2020
At Public Hearing 7, focused on “barriers to accessing a safe, quality and inclusive school education and life course impacts”, the commission received submissions and heard raw and compelling oral testimony from young people and their families who described experiences of exclusion, violence and neglect. Collectively, their testimony painted a sobering picture of how the education system continues to fail many people with disability.
Posted October 27, 2020
Attorney-General Christian Porter announced on Tuesday that the government will amend the Royal Commissions Act 1902 to guarantee that written submissions will remain confidential even after the royal commission concludes.
Posted October 16, 2020
A disability advocate has detailed harrowing stories of abuse against some of Australia’s most vulnerable people – from physical assaults to being put in cages – by those paid by taxpayers to care for them.
Posted October 15, 2020
Disability advocates fear the most severe cases of systemic abuse will not be exposed during the royal commission unless greater privacy protections are given to people making submissions.
Posted October 2, 2020
The Royal Commission held a public hearing in Melbourne from Monday 2 December to Friday 6 December 2019. It inquired into homes and living for people with disability in Victoria and particularly the experiences of people who have lived or are currently living in group homes. This report finds that the closure of large institutions housing people with disability, with the resulting development of group homes has not eliminated institutional forms of violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation experienced by people with disability, particularly those with serious intellectual disabilities.
Posted October 2, 2020
Far too many people with a disability are denied choices about their accommodation, often leading to neglect and abuse, a royal commission says. It said a shift from large housing complexes to smaller group homes had not eliminated institutional forms of violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation.
Posted September 25, 2020
“We believe that if Oliver had not have had the labels of autism and intellectual disability attached to him, he would absolutely have not have been prescribed psychotropic medications,” McGowan said.
Posted September 14, 2020
Responses to the issues paper about education and learning for people with disability have been received from individuals including people with disability, family members of people with disability, advocates, organisations and government. This overview is a summary of what people are saying. The use of restraints and seclusion in schools, experiences of bullying, and what neglect … Continued
Posted August 30, 2020
At the latest disability royal commission hearings, witnesses testified to how little regard has been given to people with disabilities during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Posted August 30, 2020
Despite the refrain throughout the COVID-19 pandemic that ‘we are all in this together’, the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability last week revealed the many hardships encountered by people with a disability over the past six months.
Posted August 30, 2020
Noting the Royal Commission’s Statement of Concern released on 26 March 2020 about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on people with disability, and Issues Paper on Emergency Planning, the hearing highlighted the experiences of people with disability during the ongoing COVID 19 pandemic.
Posted August 21, 2020
Damian Griffis, chief executive of the First Peoples Disability Network, said the virus has exacerbated existing inequalities in Australia. He said the group has received phone calls from across the country from people who don’t have access to crucial items such as incontinence pads.
Posted August 21, 2020
The single mother of a NSW student with Down syndrome felt her daughter was treated like an afterthought when her high school shut due to coronavirus, a royal commission has heard. “At the core of this there is some deeply-rooted ableism,” she told the commission on Wednesday.
