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Home > Resources > Disability Advocacy in Action > Learn about disability advocacy

Learn about disability advocacy

Posted December 8, 2020

DARU courses are designed primarily for advocates working within funded disability advocacy organisations to supports skill development for providing human rights based advocacy practice. However everyone is welcome to give them a go.

The courses are:

  • Available online free of charge
  • Structured with self paced modules that you can complete at your convenience
  • unaccredited but learners receive a Certificate of Participation upon completion (certificates are not provided for short courses).

What’s on offer?


The longer multi-module courses include:

An introduction to disability advocacy

Disability advocacy is vital for empowering people with disability to exercise their human rights and avoid discrimination. Disability advocates work to ensure that the voice of the person with a disability is heard and is central to all decision making in all areas of life that affect them. This course introduces what it takes to be an effective advocate and provides a strong foundation in the human rights framework, and other protections, for people with disability.

Get started on intro course


Best practice in disability advocacy

This course is a foundation in how to provide best practice individual advocacy. You will learn how a person with disability works through advocacy issues with the assistance of advocates from a fictional disability advocacy organisation – All Areas Advocacy. Working through a series of real life scenarios you will get practical experience in applying the principles and skills of disability advocacy.

Get started on best practice course


Systemic advocacy

Systemic advocacy is all about creating positive change for many people. In this course Dr George Taleporos, disability rights advocate, expert in disability service reform, PhD (psych), and Policy Manager at the Summer Foundation and Amy Ferguson,Managing Director at For Purpose, give you tools and tactics to create positive systemic change for people with disability.

Get started on systemic advocacy course


Advocacy at the intersections: Working along side LGBTIQA+ people with disabilities

In this course you will learn how to advocate for LGBTIQA+ people with a disability. You will learn common terms and language used in LGBTIQA+ community and the impacts of intersectionality. You will understand the issues effecting LGBTIQA+ people with disabilities and how to create a more inclusive environment for LGBTIQA+ people with disabilities.

Get started on the intersections course


Short courses include:

Accessible online meetings

Practicing social distancing has changed the way we communicate particularly with the rapid move to video conferencing platforms such as Zoom and Skype. Being online can represent lots of challenges for people with disability, but it also provides opportunities that can lead to increased accessibility which enables people with disability to participate in a more equal and inclusive way. This short course will help you make your online meetings more inclusive.

Get started on accessible online meetings short course


How to be disability inclusive

Disability awareness is generally low in the broader community. Have you ever found yourself not making the effort to connect out of fear of saying or doing the wrong thing? Well, it’s just this that makes people with disability feel invisible and excluded.  In this short course you will learn to understand what inclusion means to people with disability, what disability etiquette is and how to meet, write and talk about people with disability.

Get started on inclusion short course


Human rights model of disability

The concept that all human beings are born free and equal with dignity and rights is not new, but it has taken a long time for that concept to translate to how people with disability are treated and included in everyday life.   Despite a dedicated international convention being in place, making rights real for people with disability is still slow largely due to underlying attitudes and presumptions held in society.  In this short course you will learn How the models of disability describe attitudes that either hinder or advance the rights of people with disability, and you will understand that how we talk about disability matters.

Get started on human rights model short course


Ableism: what it is and what we can do about it – course promo

Despite reforms and legislation to protect against unfair outcomes for people with disability in all areas of life, discrimination and barriers to equal opportunity continue. It’s the attitudinal and systemic discrimination that legislation can’t protect against and it has a name. It’s called ableism. In this short course, you will learn about ableism in Australia, where disability prejudice comes from and what it looks like in the community, and How to take a stand against ableism.

Get started on Ableism short course

Restrictive practices – tips for disability advocacy

In March 2021 the NDIA released the Regulated Restrictive Practices Guide which identifies each regulated restrictive practice and provides practice advice consistent with a positive behaviour support framework and contemporary evidence informed practice. This short course summarises content presented at an Advocacy Sector Conversations Forum presented by volunteer advocate,Julie Phillips. Topics include the guidelines unpacked, the effect and potential harm restrictive practise has, and some tips on how to advocate to protect the rights for people with disability with behaviours of concern.

Get started on Restrictive Practice short course


DARU’s courses page also links to external online courses that may be of interest to advocates including:

  • La Trobe Support for Decision Making Practice Framework and Enabling risk: Putting positives first by Living with Disability Research Centre at La Trobe University
  • Teacher’s toolkit for students with little or no speech by Communication Rights Australia
  • Disability awareness by National Coordination Officer Program
  • Abuse of the older person by Older Persons Advocacy Network (OPAN)
  • Supporting effective communication by NDIS Quality & Safeguards Commission

See more external courses

 

Topics:
Ableism and disability models, Human Rights

Author:
DARU

Date published:
Thu 3rd Dec, 2020

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DARU is auspiced by DAV and VCOSS with funding from the Victorian Government Office for Disability

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