Disability in Australia

Curated news and resources on inclusion and rights

Library > Countries > Oceania > Australia

This page has curated news from Australia. There are a total of 177 links.

Highlights

In Data and Research:

A step closer to inclusive disability research The National Disability Research Partnership Learnings and Recommendations report. (2022, NDRP)

In Disaster Risk Reduction and Crisis Response:

Floods can worsen inequality. Here are 4 ways we can ensure people with disabilities aren't left behind (2022, the Conversation)

In Economics and Social Protection:

Lifeboat in the ocean: lessons from Australia Debrief exploration on the National Disability Insurance Scheme. (2023, Disability Debrief)

In Education and Childhood:

Why do students with disability go to 'special schools' when research tells us they do better in the mainstream system? (2022, the Conversation)

In Independent Living and Deinstitutionalization:

People with disabilities in group homes are suffering shocking abuse. New housing models could prevent harm. “This latest report shows 17,000 Australians living in group homes are too frequently subjected to sexual misconduct, coercion, serious injury, abuse and neglect.” (2023, The Conversation) See also the lack of independent monitoring of group homes (The Guardian).

In Indigenous People and Minority Communities:

Indigenous people with disabilities face racism and ableism. ‘I coined the term “racial-ableism” to capture the intersectionality of these experiences at the cultural interface.’ (2022, the Conversation)

In Justice Systems and Legal Capacity:

Young people with a disability are overrepresented in the youth justice system. A study in New South Wales shows that "Factors such as age of initial engagement with disability-related services, remoteness of residence, and frequency of child protection contact were strongly associated with the likelihood of a young person with disability having criminal justice contact before the age of 18". (2023, NSW BOSCAR)

In Mental Health:

Mental distress is much worse for people with disabilities, and many health professionals don't know how to help.

“Someone may present to a disability-specific health service, and be turned away due to a co-occuring mental health difficulty. They might then present to a mental health service and be turned away due to having a disability.” (2022, the Conversation)

In Mobility, Travel, Transport and Tourism:

Australia’s airlines and airports urged to improve treatment of travellers with disabilities. (2023, the Guardian)

In Policy and Rights:

Our vision for an inclusive Australia Royal Commission report, providing “222 recommendations on how to improve laws, policies, structures and practices to ensure a more inclusive and just society that supports the independence of people with disability and their right to live free from violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation.” (2023, Royal Commission) See reaction in the Guardian.

Contents

Accessibility and Design

Housing

Uneven path to a decent home: Australians with a disability face battle for accessible housing. (2022, the Guardian)

One-size-fits-all model of accessible housing ‘a disaster’ for Australians with disability. “There should be an option for us to stay together as a family and not be forced to relinquish care just because we don’t have the funds to build an accessible house.” (2022, the Guardian)

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COVID-19

Response

How COVID-19 public communications is letting down our most vulnerable. (2023)

Predictors of vaccine hesitancy among disability support workers in Australia. A survey showed that 50% of disability support workers were vaccine hesitant. (2022, Disability and Health)

Living with COVID-19 in the time of OMICRON: Escalating risks for people with disability in Australia and recommendations how to address them. (2022, Centre of Research Excellence in Disability and Health)

Australian vaccine contractor prioritises aged care "NDIS participant vaccine rates remain lower than general population" (2022, the Guardian)

As COVID-19 cases rise, disability advocates say CDC isn't doing enough (2022)

People with disability 'completely overlooked' as Omicron surges (2021)

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Living with COVID-19

Sick and Tired: casting a long shadow. Inquiry into long COVID and repeated COVID infections. (2023, Parliament of Australia)

Covid-related staff shortages in Australian disability sector leave some without vital services (2022, the Guardian)

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Civil Society and Community

Good practice guidelines for engaging with people with disability “The guidelines are designed to help people working in the government, private and not-for-profit sectors. They provide practical guidance for people who run activities to design, plan, and deliver processes, products, services and policies.” (2023, Analysis & Policy Observatory)

Our understanding of limb difference is changing, and these young Australians are leading the way (2022, ABC News)

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Climate Crisis and Environment

Eco-ableism? Banning Straws’ Impact on Disabled People. “This month, Victoria became the latest Australian state to ban single-use plastics, including straws. While this is a win for the environment and marine life, it will come at a price for social inclusion.” (2023, Mirage)

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Communication and Language

Sign Languages

The art of interpreting standup comedy in sign language. (2022, the Guardian)

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Braille

Magic touch: how ‘revolutionary’ changes are making braille better than ever. “Braille has had a revival during the past decade. Technology such as refreshable braille displays has made the script more portable and adaptable, and increasingly braille is being integrated into the community beyond books.” (2023, the Guardian)

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Culture, Entertainment and Media

Overview

The dancers with disability exploring sex and love: ‘Once you open the floodgates, it’s pretty interesting’. (Feb, the Guardian)

'I believe deaf people are the best listeners in the world': Just another day as a deaf music critic. (2023, ABC News)

Seeing the story — just another day working as a blind critic (2023, ABC News)

Communicating about Disability in Australia Insights, Challenges and Opportunities. (2023, Frameworks)

‘I don’t care, I know I look good’: Australian dancer Dan Daw on kink, disability and ‘powerful crip joy’. (2023, the Guardian)

Lara Ricote is comedy’s next big thing. She's also deaf. (2023, SBS News)

Artists unmask disabilities in push to break barriers and challenge attitudes around music in Australia. (2023, ABC News)

Revamped national cultural policy includes a national arts and disability plan. (2023, NME)

From homeless and busking to the main stage: Rodney Bell’s wheelchair dance tours Australia | Dance | The Guardian (2022, the Guardian)

Adaptive fashion for people with disability showcased (2022, SBS News)

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Media

Five disability-led Australian podcasts that are a must listen. (2023, ABC News)

Vanessa Vlajkovic is a subeditor at ABC News. She's also Deafblind, here's how she does her job. (2023, ABC News)

Representations as Violence: When the News Reports on Homicides of Disabled People. “When such murders are reported in the news, disabled people as full subjects fade away, portrayed as objects of care and suffering; their murders are routinely presented as an understandable if tragic response by ‘overwhelmed’ carers.” (2023, International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy)

Australian advertisers striving for inclusiveness through disability representation. (2022, ABC News)

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Data and Research

Overview

New Disability Dashboards released “These dashboards offer a new way to access and understand data and insights about the main disability types represented in the NDIS.” (2022, NDIS)

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Research

A step closer to inclusive disability research The National Disability Research Partnership Learnings and Recommendations report. (2022, NDRP)

Doing research inclusively: co-production in action “provides practical strategies for every step of the co-design process in research.” (2022)

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Digital Accessibility and Technology

Artificial Intelligence

Australian terrorism prediction tool considered autism a sign of criminality “A tool designed to predict future crime in terrorist offenders considered them at greater risk of offending if they were autistic despite having no empirical basis to do so, an independent report has found.” (2023, the Guardian)

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Online Accessibility

A new playground: the digital lives of young people with disability. (2023, Analysis & Policy Observatory)

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Social Media

Young people living with disability share experiences and create communities through social media. (2022, ABC News)

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Disaster Risk Reduction and Crisis Response

Flood Response Failed to Protect Most at Risk. “Human Rights Watch found that New South Wales and local authorities did not provide adequate flood warnings, evacuation, or rescue support, leaving older people, people with disabilities, and those who were pregnant facing life-threatening circumstances with little government assistance.” (2022, Human Rights Watch)

Floods can worsen inequality. Here are 4 ways we can ensure people with disabilities aren't left behind (2022, the Conversation)

Disability sector demands inclusive disaster preparedness (2022, Probono)

Pleas for NSW flood survivors with disability to be prioritised for urgent housing, care. (2022, ABC News)

"I'm about to drown": one phone call Sam Connor received during the recent floods. (2022, Hireup)

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Economics and Social Protection

Overview

Disability royal commission says neglect and abuse costs $46 billion a year. Analysis quantifies economic impacts: “The cost of system failures – such as lost productivity due to low employment – was calculated at $27.7 billion. [...] Interpersonal maltreatment – such as violence in the home, sexual violence, child abuse and neglect – was costed at $18.3 billion.” (2023, The Sydney Morning Herald)

The case for philanthropy in disability: “Deloitte Access Economics used HILDA data to examine benefits to health and wellbeing ($57bn), employment ($25.6bn) and education ($1.7bn) if Australia deliberately includes people with disability. This analysis shows that the cumulative inclusion dividend is $84bn per annum.” (2023, Achieve Foundation)

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Financial Inclusion

Accessibility and Inclusion Principles for Banking Services (link to pdf, 2023, Australian Banking Association)

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Social Protection

Accessing Formal Supports in Australia: The Experiences of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) Women with Disabilities. (2023, Women With Disabilities Australia)

Working together to deliver the NDIS an independent review into the National Disability Insurance Scheme. “People with disability must be at the centre of the NDIS. But more than that, they must be at the centre of a new comprehensive disability support ecosystem.” (2023, Australian Government)

Lifeboat in the ocean: lessons from Australia Debrief exploration on the National Disability Insurance Scheme. (2023, Disability Debrief)

Redesigning the NDIS an intersectional perspective on an Australian disability support system, and the need for “radical transformation”. (2023, DANA)

Careless: How the NDIS fails to protect our most vulnerable “This week's Four Corners exposes criminals, opportunists and registered providers who have been busted exploiting loopholes to overcharge and defraud the NDIS.” (2023, ABC News)

Clinic associated with cult that teaches that people with disability are experiencing 'karma' receives thousands in NDIS funds. (2023, ABC News)

Public Advocate leaves woman with dementia without heart monitor for 18 months. “The state controls her mother’s life. Katelyn’s fighting desperately to get it back.” (2023, ABC News)

Disability assessments and the algorithmic veil: lessons from the abandoned ‘independent assessments’ proposal for the National Disability Insurance Scheme. “This article concludes by asking what a rights-based disability assessment looks like, while critically examining the limits of a narrow focus on disability assessment methodology.” (2023, Australian Journal of Human Rights)

The government says NDIS supports should be ‘evidence-based’ – but can they be? (2023, The Conversation)

NDIS Review – Have your say: a snapshot of what we’ve heard so far. (2023, NDIS Review)

NDIS participants 'kidnapped' and financially abused in boarding homes for people with disability, report finds. For example ‘being "coaxed" into changing accommodation and service providers "through offers of fast-food 'treats' like KFC and McDonalds".’ (2023, ABC News)

NDIS must focus on ‘outcomes, not just providing services’ (2023, Nation)

Suggesting NDIS cuts to pay for expensive submarines is the latest attack on disabled people. “The last few weeks have seen an intensification of the predicted pre-federal budget attacks on the NDIS, with a wide range of articles and interviews being published, and the conservative social media in full agreement. These pieces are often shared alongside disgusting slurs against disabled people.” (2023, the Guardian)

“There’s been no apology for a mistake that nearly killed me.” The disability community speaks out on Robodebt. (2023, Hireup)

Disability services need to employ more people with lived experience. “New research from the University of Sydney finds almost a quarter of Australian disability services do not employ any people with disability, and 20% employ less than three people with disability.” (2023, Phys Org)

NDIS funding isn't just a one-way street – it helps participants secure work and give back to the economy. “I was disabled enough to actually qualify for the Paralympics, but not disabled enough to qualify for any assistance on the NDIS” (2022, ABC News)

Two-year wait for a wheelchair: inquiry hears of difficulty accessing NDIS for remote Indigenous communities (2022, the Guardian)

Hackers Steal a ‘Very Large’ Batch of Private Data from Australia’s Disability Scheme: “this kind of data breach puts vulnerable people at serious risk of identity theft, fraud, and scams,” (2022, Vice)

Two directors of care provider charged with criminal neglect over death of Ann Marie Smith. (2022, the Guardian)

When is a condition 'chronic' and when is it a 'disability'? The definition can determine the support you get (2022, the Conversation)

Concern millions of Australians with disability not on the NDIS have been 'forgotten' (2022, ABC News)

National Disability Insurance Agency scrutinised woman’s social media posts to challenge her eligibility for the scheme (2022, the Guardian)

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Education and Childhood

Overview

How can segregated special schools still be a choice? (2023, Centre for Inclusive Education)

‘A form of discrimination’: Australia’s school system accused of failing neurodiverse kids. (2023, the Guardian)

Special schools should be abolished “Educators are pushing for special schools to be scrapped and for all students to be educated together, regardless of their abilities.” (2023, Herald Sun)

What we should all know about authentic inclusive classrooms (2022, EduResearch Matters)

Why do students with disability go to 'special schools' when research tells us they do better in the mainstream system? (2022, the Conversation)

Experts slam ‘culture of low expectations’ surrounding kids with disability, ‘routinely being let down by a widespread lack of support across both mainstream and specialist schools.’ (2022, The Educator)

Push for special schools to be phased out under inclusive education plan (2022, SMH)

‘Devastating impact’: Rise in proportion of disabled students expelled from Victorian government schools during COVID pandemic. “We expect it to be worse this year,” she said. “Every time students have gone back to school following a lockdown period, we have seen both formal and informal exclusions increase.” (2022, The Age)

Could a national body for ‘Scientists with Disabilities’ level the playing field? (2022, Women's Agenda)

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Higher Education

Students living with a disability are falling behind at university due to lack of accessible, flexible study options. (2023, ABC News)

Barriers facing disabled activism at university: ‘Disability is often relegated to “second-class” status in student activism. More effort, listening and discernment is needed from other activists to build a genuinely inclusive student movement.’ (2022, Honi Soit)

Women with disabilities 'underestimated' as battle for equality in science careers heats up. (2022, ABC News)

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Employment, Business and Work

How Australia’s biggest brands made disability visible. A coalition of the country’s most well-known brands have swapped out key scenes in their commercials to include people with disabilities. (2023, Shots)

Research reveals employer attitudes to disability. “The survey of Australian Network on Disability’s 400 member organisations, including some of the country’s biggest corporations, major universities, and government departments, found 68 per cent do not have targets for the employment of people with disability.” (2023, Pro Bono)

Many Australian bosses believe disabled staff faking impairment. (2023, Daily Telegraph)

Australia is lagging when it comes to employing people with disability – “it will need to take affirmative action.” (2023, The Conversation)

Royal Commission report finds Disability Employment Services (DES) program failed to provide appropriate support. (2023, Royal Commission) Further reaction on the Guardian.

(Under)valuing lived experience in the disability workforce: “this study examined the ways in which lived experience was described as an asset in disability workforce recruitment.” (2022, Australian Journal of Social Issues)

Employment and mental health for people with and without disability. The beneficial mental health effects of part- or full-time employment were larger for disabled people. (2022, Population Health)

'The gap is widening': disability advocates say not all Australians are enjoying equal employment opportunities. (2022, SBS News)

Low staff turnover, high loyalty and productivity gains: the business benefits of hiring people with intellectual disability (2022, the Conversation)

People with disability working for legal pay as low as $2.27 an hour, inquiry hears (2022, the Guardian)

Increasing board and executive representation (2022, Australian Network on Disability)

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Health

‘They treat you like an it’: people with intellectual disability on seeing medical professionals. (2023, The Conversation)

Developing self-report disability questions for a voluntary patient registration form for general practice in Australia (2023, Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health)

Access to general practice for people with intellectual disability in Australia: a systematic scoping review. (2022)

Hospitals only note a person's intellectual disability 20% of the time – so they don't adjust their care. “Potentially avoidable deaths (from conditions that could have been prevented through individualised care or treatment, like viral pneumonia, asthma, or diabetes) are more than twice as likely in people with intellectual disability.” (2022, the Conversation)

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History and Memorial

Remembering Stella Young a statue of Stella in her hometown, Stawell. “I am not a snowflake. I am not a sweet, infantilising symbol of fragility and life. I am a strong, fierce, flawed adult woman. I plan to remain that way, in life and in death.” (2023, Northern Grampians Shire Council)

Remembering Stella Young a webpage dedicated to her life and memory. (2023)

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Humanitarian, Migrants and Refugees

Overview

Small changes could bridge communication and cultural gaps for people from refugee backgrounds who need disability support. (2022, the Conversation)

The association between chronic pain and pre-and-post migration experiences in resettled humanitarian refugee women residing in Australia. “Chronic pain was reported in 45% (n = 139) of women, and among these a further 66% (n = 120) also reported having a long-term disability or health condition that had lasted 12 months.” (2022, BMC Public Health)

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Migration

A migration review could close some disability discrimination loopholes A review of the threshold which is “used to refuse visas if an applicant or their child has a health condition or disability likely to incur “a significant cost to the Australian community” to treat or support.” (2023, The Conversation)

Calls for changes to migration laws as families shown the door due to high medical costs. (2023, ABC News)

Perth family facing deportation as son's Down syndrome diagnosis deemed taxpayer burden. (2023, ABC News)

Cairns family facing deportation “After living in Australia for more than a decade, a Korean couple is facing deportation because their son, who was born here, has autism.” (2022, 9 News)

Bangladeshi refugee describes 'humiliating' treatment because of disability while detained on Nauru. (2022, SBS News)

Migrants with disability are discriminated against with 'impossible' health requirements, advocacy groups say. “We're working with a young man who came to Australia as an asylum seeker and had a stroke. The federal government supports him to live in a nursing home, but they won’t allow him access to the National Disability Insurance Scheme to receive the support he needs to live a good life in the community.” (2022, SBS News)

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Independent Living and Deinstitutionalization

Overview

The disability paradox:

“I could go around all day with a support worker and be safe and supported. And I could continually scout ahead to locate the limited places that are accessible and go only there. But I don’t want to be confined to my own little lifeboat. I want my community to be open to all and inclusive. I want to get bogged at a beach in my wheelchair and know people will help. I want to push into a crowded, heaving mosh pit and join the other dancers.” (2023, the Guardian)

The number of reports of unauthorised restrictive practices to the NDIS is up five-fold in three years, to 1.4 million. (2023, ABC News)

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Conditions in Institutions

Listening to People with Intellectual Disability about Institutions “This article provides a model of inclusive research for turning the harms of past institutionalisation into an educational and reparative experience.” (2023, International Journal of Disability and Social Justice)

People with disabilities in group homes are suffering shocking abuse. New housing models could prevent harm. “This latest report shows 17,000 Australians living in group homes are too frequently subjected to sexual misconduct, coercion, serious injury, abuse and neglect.” (2023, The Conversation) See also the lack of independent monitoring of group homes (The Guardian).

Damning aged care audit reveals abuse and neglect of residents across the country. (2022, the Guardian)

Sites of conscience redressing disability institutional violence (2022, Incarceration)

Victorian government seizes control of supported care homes over abuse, ‘uninhabitable conditions’ (2022, SMH)

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Indigenous People and Minority Communities

Indigenous people with disabilities face racism and ableism. ‘I coined the term “racial-ableism” to capture the intersectionality of these experiences at the cultural interface.’ (2022, the Conversation)

The I Am, Movement designs 'culturally safe' education resources for Indigenous children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. (2022, ABC News)

From employment barriers to food insecurity, the challenges of the pandemic have only intensified for First Nations Australians with disabilities (2022, Minority Rights Group International)

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International Cooperation

‘Volunteering has made a big impact on my career’: The ABC’s disability affairs reporter Nas Campanella shares her story. (2023, The Australian Volunteers Program)

Measuring disability equity – why the disability policy marker matters. “In 2021, 18% of Australia’s bilateral official development assistance (ODA) was identified as disability inclusive” (2023, Dev Policy Blog)

Re-establishing DFAT’s leadership on disability equity and rights How the OECD-DAC Disability Marker Can Help (2023, CBM Australia)

Beyond a seat at the table: towards disability equity in Asia-Pacific. Reflections on the role for Australian development strategy. (2023, DevPolicy Blog)

Important day for Australia in leaving no-one behind in development program (2022, CBM Australia)

Profile of Jane Edge, CEO of CBM Australia (2022, Probono Australia)

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Australian Teen Locked in Solitary Confinement for 500 Days. “Imagine being locked alone in a tiny cell for over 20 hours a day and for more than 500 days over a 744-day period. That is how Michael (not his real name), an Aboriginal teenager with an intellectual disability, spent most of his time in pretrial detention in the Townsville youth prison in Queensland, Australia.” (2023, Human Rights Watch)

Detainees with disabilities in 'spiral of hopelessness' “People with disabilities in the criminal justice system feel like they exist in a "black hole" after an international torture prevention body cancelled a visit to Australia.” (2023, ABC News)

Young people with a disability are overrepresented in the youth justice system. A study in New South Wales shows that "Factors such as age of initial engagement with disability-related services, remoteness of residence, and frequency of child protection contact were strongly associated with the likelihood of a young person with disability having criminal justice contact before the age of 18". (2023, NSW BOSCAR)

Report outlines framework for supported decision-making for people with cognitive disability. (2023, Royal Commission)

Report examines pathways leading children with disability from child protection into the justice system. (2023)

Trapped, stripped of assets, and silenced. And it’s all perfectly legal: a photo-essay feature on challenging public guardianship. (2022, ABC News)

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Lived Experience and Opinion

Khadija Gbla is now out of the disability closet and feels more powerful than ever. “It took me 34 years to be able to have the space, the opportunity, the safety to give that to myself and say I am disabled.” (2023, ABC News)

Nobody I’ve been locked up with in a psychiatric hospital felt ‘proud’ of their illness. “But the sickest people I’ve ever known – myself included – have had almost no part in this opening up, as if we’re suffering from a different condition altogether.” (2023, the Guardian)

As a disabled woman, my self-portraits help me reclaim my body. (2023, ABC News)

Ableism and disablism – how to spot them and how we can all do better. (2023, The Conversation)

My talking, flameless stove How my talking induction stove gave me the confidence to cook. (2023, ABC News)

Women with disability already battle stereotypes. I can't afford to be an angry, brown woman, too. (2022, ABC News)

Re-Frame 2022 a TV show showcasing “stories from all around the country highlighting perspectives from people with disability” (2022, ABC)

Reflections between Australia and Indonesia on how #MeToo gave me a vocabulary to claim disability rights “my reaction to unsolicited help formed the crux of my dilemma. I felt torn between the need to keep myself safe, and the pressure to meet society’s expectations that I would welcome help.” (2022, Unbias the News)

Forming body image as a blind person “When I was younger, I trusted other people's perceptions of my appearance more than my own.” (2022, ABC News)

Special Issue on Writing Disability in Australia (2022, Australian Literary Studies)

The Disability Pandemic:

”I lived in two worlds during COVID. One that suddenly got more open and inclusive, where I was asked to talk at events, on television, to Senate committees. I pasted lipstick on, and calmed my frizzy hair, adjusting a badly fitting shirt, so I could tell the world that disabled people needed help. Then I would scrub it all off, limp to the kitchen and face the anxiety swarm about there being no food.” (2022, Meanjin)

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Mental Health

Police should not be involved in mental health incidents. “They can escalate the situation and mental distress, according to new research for the first time led by Australians with lived experience.” (2023, the Guardian)

In mental health units, women are drugged up, dehydrated and retraumatised. “Some say they're leaving facilities in a worse condition than when they arrived, having reported sexual assault or discrimination. Many report being administered high dosages of medication without any support on release, while some say they were even denied adequate water.” (2023, ABC News)

People living inside our mental health system must not be left outside its reform. “For too long, people with lived experience of mental health have been excluded from policy discussions,” (2023, Independent Australia)

As Australia’s human rights record comes under scrutiny, here is a missing piece in mental health reforms. (2023, Croakey Health Media)

Mental distress is much worse for people with disabilities, and many health professionals don't know how to help.

“Someone may present to a disability-specific health service, and be turned away due to a co-occuring mental health difficulty. They might then present to a mental health service and be turned away due to having a disability.” (2022, the Conversation)

More than 1,200 people are detained indefinitely with no criminal conviction. “People detained indefinitely without conviction are most commonly those who are found unfit to plead after being charged with a criminal offence, or who are found not guilty because of a mental impairment.” See more in how advocates have responded. (2022, the Guardian)

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Mobility, Travel, Transport and Tourism

Overview

Introducing Australia’s new wave of accessible beaches (2023, The Independent)

Abrolhos Islands upgrades make paradise more accessible for tourists (2023, ABC News)

Tasmanian man died after his wheelchair tumbled down an embankment when he got sick of waiting for a taxi. (2023, ABC News)

New national Fitness to Drive standards are 'discriminatory' and 'humiliating' for autistic drivers, psychologists say. (2023, ABC News)

Study shines light on impact of beach accessibility (2023, University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland)

Australia misses 20-year public transport accessibility target as many train and tram networks fail people with disabilities. One source estimated “at best 50 per cent compliance to [accessible public transport] standards”. (2023, ABC News)

Left behind: the fight for accessible public transport in Victoria | Victoria | The Guardian (2022, the Guardian)

Web Guide for Disability Access to Australian Beaches (2022, Accessible Beaches)

‘We’re not a priority’: people with disabilities wait up to three hours for transport in regional Queensland. (2022, the Guardian)

‘You can make money out of us’ the disabled people demanding more accessible travel and tourism (2021, the Guardian)

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Air Travel

Adelaide Airport settles dispute with former disability discrimination commissioner over a "humiliating and distressing" experience with security screening and his assistance dog. (Jan, ABC News)

Australia’s airlines and airports urged to improve treatment of travellers with disabilities. (2023, the Guardian)

‘This was indignity’: passenger with disability left without wheelchair at Sydney airport. (2022, the Guardian)

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Policy and Rights

Analysing the recommendations of the Royal Commission on a Disability Rights Act (2023, Disability Advocacy Network Australia)

Our vision for an inclusive Australia Royal Commission report, providing “222 recommendations on how to improve laws, policies, structures and practices to ensure a more inclusive and just society that supports the independence of people with disability and their right to live free from violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation.” (2023, Royal Commission) See reaction in the Guardian.

Use of forced restraint and restrictive practices against people with disability violates international human rights. A report highlights concerns about their expanding use in “disability, mental health, education, aged care, justice and other sectors.” (2023, University of Melbourne)

Australia’s disability strategy 2021–2031 outcomes framework: first annual report (2023, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare)

Australia’s disability strategy 2021–2031 (2021, APO)

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Relationships, Sex and Reproductive Rights

Parents with disability face discrimination in child protection systems a report finds that “parents with disability are over-represented as subjects of child protection allegations, investigations and proceedings.” (2023, Disability Royal Commission)

Meet Melanie and Chayse: The disabled woman and her sex worker. (2023, BBC)

Resource will help reduce prejudice against parents with intellectual disability (2022, University of Sydney)

We've Got This: Stories by Disabled Parents edited by Eliza Hull. (2022, Scribe Publications)

"I am on a mission to make dating more accessible and inclusive." (2022, Women's Agenda)

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Sport and Paralympics

Ellie Cole was told she wasn't 'disabled enough’ to represent Paralympians. Here’s her response. (2023, MamaMia)

Paralympics Australia announces new plan for Para-sport to Brisbane 2032 and beyond. “Paralympics Australia (PA) has called out the inequity in funding and support for the Para-sport system” (2023, ABC News)

‘It makes you think about things’: Australian Rules Football’s uncomfortable truth with brain trauma (2023, Brisbane Times)

‘I am who I am’: how a blind Kurdish refugee became an Australian sporting superstar. (2022, the Guardian)

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Violence and Harassment

Australia’s disability royal commission has faced near media silence – and left politicians unaccountable. (2022, the Guardian)

‘They yell at you’: woman with dwarfism reveals ‘deeply offensive’ abuse received in public. (2022, the Guardian)

‘Devastating’: woman with a disability met with disbelief after sexual assault, royal commission hears. (2022, the Guardian)

Changing the landscape: a national resource to prevent violence against women and girls with disabilities (2022, Our Watch)

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