"Shut Out"
"No Longer Shut Away, People with a Disability are Still Shut Out"
The Age, Rhonda Galbally August 10, 2009
The trouble with disabilities is that most Australians think they happen to someone else. Recently I was talking to a man whose partner was disabled by a recent accident and he told me: "I just didn't realise how bad things were for people with a disability - until it happened to us."
He is not alone. Without first-hand experience of disability, most people assume things are better than they used to be - or at least that they are getting better.
It is true that many of the large institutions that once housed people with a disability - out of sight and out of mind - are now closed. It is true that Australians with a disability are now largely free to live in the community. But that does not mean they are welcome.
Where once they were shut in, now people with a disability find themselves shut out. Shut out of housing, employment, education, health care, recreation and sport. Shut out of kindergartens, schools, shopping centres and community groups. Shut out of our way of life. This segregation is a national disgrace.
Late last year the National People with Disabilities and Carer Council was given the task of co-ordinating public consultations regarding the development and implementation of the Rudd Government's National Disability Strategy.
The strategy will be the first disability policy of its type - setting a goal for the kind of life people with a disability have a right to expect and outlining the actions and reforms that need to be taken to achieve that goal. One of the first steps towards setting that goal was a nationwide consultation process to find out what life is like for people with a disability - and find out what they want their life to be like.
The result is Shut Out, released this week by the National People with Disabilities and Carer Council.
For the full story http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/no-longer-shut-away-people-with-a-disability-are-still-shut-out-20090809-ee6i.html
"SHUT OUT"
The Experience of People with Disabilities and their Families in Australia
[From Tony and Heather Tregale, LISA: a parent support and lobby group for parents and families with a family member having an intellectual/multiple disability and living in a supported accommodation group home in the State of Victoria, Australia, View http://www.lisa-aus.blogspot.com/]
Click here to open the report
Many of the large institutions that housed generations of people with disabilities out of sight and out of mind are now closed. Australians with disabilities are now largely free to live in the community. Once shut in, many people with disabilities now find themselves shut out.
People with disabilities may be present in our community, but too few are actually part of it. Many live desperate and lonely lives of exclusion and isolation. The institutions that once housed them may be closed, but the inequity remains.
Where once they were physically segregated, many Australians with disabilities now find themselves socially, culturally and politically isolated. They are ignored, invisible and silent. They struggle to be noticed, they struggle to be seen, they struggle to have their voices heard.
What you will read in this report is their attempt to break down the walls of silence and finally have their story told.
In late 2008, the Australian Government released a discussion paper asking the community to respond to a series of questions about their experience of disability (see Appendix A). The consultations were intended to inform the development of a National Disability Strategy. Reflecting the Australian Government's commitment to social inclusion, the aim of the National Disability Strategy is to ensure that people with disabilities have the opportunity to fully participate in the economic, social and cultural life of the nation. Developed by the Commonwealth in partnership with state and territory governments, the National Disability Strategy offers an unprecedented opportunity to articulate a clear vision and to marshal resources towards the achievement of common goals. It will galvanise and direct coordinated action between all levels of government to close the gap between the lived experience of people with disabilities and the rest of the Australian community.
More than 750 submissions were received in response to the discussion paper, more than half of which were from individuals and the remainder from a range of organisations (see Appendix B). This overwhelming response from ordinary Australians, so often excluded from the process of policy development, is an important indication of the depth of feeling among people with disabilities and their families, friends and carers. They have long called for change. Now they want to see it!
A message from the Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Children's Services, the Hon Bill Shorten MP, 5th August 2009
Thank you to everyone who provided submissions or participated in the consultation sessions held across Australia. The response to the consultation process on the National Disability Strategy (the Strategy) was extensive with over 2,500 people attending capital city forums and focus groups in regional and remote areas and over 750 submissions to the discussion paper were received.
The many views expressed through the transcripts of nation-wide consultations have undergone a thematic analysis and the submissions have since undergone an independent qualitative and quantitative analysis. Together, these two important pieces of work have informed the consultation feedback report to the government.
The report ‘Shut Out: The Experience of People with Disabilities and their Families in Australia' was launched by the National People with Disabilities and Carer Council (NPWDACC) on 5 August 2009. For a copy of the report click here http://www.fahcsia.gov.au/sa/disability/pubs/policy/community_consult/Pages/default.aspx
For the plain English version click here http://www.fahcsia.gov.au/sa/disability/pubs/policy/Pages/shutout_easyenglish.aspx
Phone 1800 050 009 or TTY: Phone 1800 555 677 and ask for 1800 050 009 if you require another version of this document
The report provides detail on the key barriers and issues facing people with a disability, their families and carers and highlights the solutions offered by the submissions. The report also compares the level of interest against a range of themes and issues that have emerged and identifies the existing strategies that submissions suggest are working well.
http://www.fahcsia.gov.au/sa/disability/progserv/govtint/Pages/nds.aspx
