A “new philosophy” and broader approaches can transform services for persons with disabilities, a UN-appointed independent expert told the Human Rights Council on Monday. Personhood and social inclusion should always determine how services and support systems are designed, delivered, and monitored, he said. Indeed, adding this concept was the only way to make the Convention … Continued
When refugees with disabilities settle in new countries such as Australia, they become eligible for government services such as the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), but they don’t always know how to access them.
The purpose of the annual Charter Report is to examine the operation of the Charter in any given year – how it interacts with law and policy to protect and promote human rights. 2021 was another year of major upheaval in the lives of Victorians as they adapted to the Victorian Government’s public health responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. This report continues to focus on the impact of COVID-19 and provides an update on the Charter issues that emerged in 2021 in relation to additional measures the Victorian Government took to protect Victorians.
you wake up in the morning and wonder how much it costs a taxpayer so you can get out of bed and ready for the morning? I know I do. The last few weeks have not been kind to those with disabilities because we are being turned into commodities, and our dignity is being left behind.
Sexual and reproductive health services are often inaccessible to women with disabilities for many reasons, including attitudes from health providers and a lack of physical access. In this story, a woman with disability talks about her experience giving birth and how it drives her activism today.
Despite the high levels of spending, people living with disabilities are far from being well provided for under this scheme. A small percentage have managed to traverse the bureaucratic maze to get things such as home assistance, wheelchairs and home modifications that substantially improve their lives. No decent person would begrudge them that, whatever the cost.
The ways educators orientate to disability is crucial to how they ensure students are not excluded from any aspect of educational participation because of the conditions they live with. An educator’s orientation to disability is also just as important when they are designing and delivering inclusive curriculum. Unfortunately, still too many students with disabilities receive inequitable schooling opportunities in Australia.
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.
Lisa, who lives with an acquired brain injury, speaks with Dinesh Wadiwel from the University of Sydney about human rights, their origin, their influence and effect.
To those unfamiliar with the way that the Disabilities Collective understands disability, the social model of disability provides a good starting point.
Yet the NDIS is not working for everyone. Many within the grass roots movement that created the NDIS have lost faith. First, interaction with the scheme must be made simpler. NDIS access is not needed for everyone seeking entry to the scheme, but for those with significant and permanent support needs, entry and ongoing access can be more customer centric and less red tape intensive.
This week the disability royal commission heard tales of abuse and neglect from people with disabilities in youth detention and adult prisons. One woman described being constantly dropped while being moved in and out of her wheelchair and said she was denied physiotherapy to slow the progression of muscular dystrophy. An Indigenous man said he was denied his antidepressants and asthma puffer. A hearing-impaired man said he didn’t have an Auslan interpreter for weeks.
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.”
Child protection statistics are a sober reminder of the vulnerability these families face if they fall between the cracks of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and mainstream support services. Parenting should be treated as an activity of daily living for people with disability and then supported – rather than ignored – to ensure the best outcomes for parents and children.
My research and that of others shows the challenges faced by this group were always characterised as a “specialised field”. This means governments were aware of the issues but still failed to properly engage with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with disability in remote regions.