Board member of Disability Advocacy Australia Julie Phillips said there needed to be a significant change in approach to dealing with people who suffer from a disability.
“It’s outrageous that these sorts of things continue to happen in Victoria and Australia where the symptoms of people with disability which are due to autism or mental illness are being interpreted as people being deliberately obstructive,” she added.
John’s psychologist was worried about his mental health. She asked the police to check on him. CCTV footage shows they did much more.
John installed a CCTV system at his house in Melbourne’s northern suburbs after it was burgled a few years back. It was supposed to capture robbers — not police.
Yvette Nichol, 60, had been primary carer for autistic and epileptic son Brett, 34. Nichols avoided jail and blames the disability support system for her actions. She attempted to take his and her own life in 2016 but had remorse .
Ryan has spent 16 months in prison despite being found unfit to stand trial on charges that, had he pleaded guilty to, might not have resulted in jail.
A young disabled woman who was unable to speak was reportedly “half dragged and half carried” from a taxi in a “shocking” incident allegedly witnessed by community workers.
The result of this underfunding is major overcrowding. It is lack of accessibility for the diverse and sometimes complex needs of people with disabilities. It is the lack of medical services for people who need medical care. And it is staff who are under-trained, who are expected to control the inmates in overflowing prisons, rather than treating them humanely. Able-bodied and healthy prisoners may be able to cope with prison guards being inconsiderate, abusive, and worse. For people with disabilities, the results can range from humiliating, to dangerous.
Kriti Sharma, a disability researcher at Human Rights Watch, joined Chris Mason to discuss the current situation for disabled prisoners in Australia.
People with disabilities, particularly a cognitive or psychosocial disability, are overrepresented in the criminal justice system in Australia—comprising around 18 percent of the country’s population, but almost 50 percent of people entering prison.
A new report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) suggests Pete’s story is not uncommon. It has uncovered widespread instances of abuse of prisoners with disabilities in Australia.
A nurse has been fired after horrific footage emerged of him allegedly abusing a patient who suffers from a disability at a Melbourne hospital.
Queensland woman, Maree Crabtree has been arrested, accused of poisoning her two adult children, Erin and Jonathon, with prescription medications over a period of five years. Both victims have been described as “severely disabled”.
Victoria Supreme Court judge has granted bail to a young man with a profound intellectual disability after telling an earlier hearing he was “horrified” by the conditions the man was being detained in.
The Victorian Disability Minister has urgently intervened to remove a young man with a profound intellectual disability from jail. Minister Martin Foley made the decision after 7.30 informed him the young man was there because, under the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), no disability provider would have him.
Unfitness to plead laws in Australia have been widely recognised as requiring reform and modernisation. The Unfitness to Plead Project sought to develop practical and legal options to address the problem of people with cognitive disabilities being found unfit to plead and subject to indefinite detention.