Enabling access
Launch of disability awareness resources package: Enabling Access: Disability Discrimination Awareness Training for Local Government.
| Dr Sev Ozdowski OAM, Acting Disability Discrimination Commissioner John Harvey Gallery, Salisbury, SA |
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Allow me to commence by acknowledging the traditional custodians of the
land on which we meet, the Kaurna people.
I also acknowledge distinguished guests, representatives of State and local government, members of access advisory committees, and my colleague Mr Mike Taggart who has been a central figure in the achievement we celebrate today.
I am very happy to be able to be here to participate in the launching of the package, Enabling Access: Disability Discrimination Awareness Training for Local Government.
This package has been developed jointly by the five largest councils in South Australia: Salisbury, Charles Sturt, Marion, Onkaparinga and Tea Tree Gully.
I commend the five councils involved for their initiative. I also commend the Local Government Association for their support provided through the Local Government Research and Development Scheme
This is a package which I think will be very valuable in increasing awareness of disability issues, and in promoting appropriate action based on that awareness.
It is now over twenty years since the International Year for people with disabilities. In some States, including here in South Australia, there has been antidiscrimination legislation applying to disability since the early 1980s. It is ten years next month since Australia's federal Disability Discrimination Act entered into force.
In that time there have been thousands of disability discrimination complaints dealt with, and thousands more instances of change towards greater equality and participation for people with disabilities in our community.
But despite all this there remains a very strong need for increased awareness
of disability issues and how to address these issues.
Disability is so often overlooked or forgotten as part of the diversity
of our communities. This is a paradox because disability is very much
part of the ordinary experience of being human.
The statistics tell us that one in five Australians has a disability. Of course, the proportion of us who have a disability increases as we get older, and so the number of people with disabilities in the Australian community is likely to increase further with ageing of our population.
The package points to the impact on community attitudes and awareness
of disability that came from segregation of people with disabilities from
the rest of the community for many years - separate education, housing,
transport, employment and so on.
Until recently for example it was common for students to go through the
education system without much experience of people with disabilities as
classmates.
This also meant that mainstream systems and services were not designed with disability in mind, and knowledge and experience of disability was often lacking for people designing and running those systems.
As we know, in recent decades there has been a move to recognise people with disabilities as an integral part of the community.
Antidiscrimination laws are part of that recognition and these laws have
assisted in changing other important social structures.
I think it is well known by now that public transport systems for example
are moving towards accessibility on a state and national level instead
of leaving transport for people with disabilities to be dealt with by
segregated services.
Although there is debate in the community about the scale of progress being achieved it is clear that education systems are becoming more inclusive over time. Mainstream educational experience increasingly is including some familiarity with people with disabilities as fellow students.
Closer to local government responsibilities, the building code is being changed to accommodate people with disabilities in the design of mainstream buildings like offices and shops, instead of disability access being an "add-on" issue only considered in specialised facilities like hospitals.
Some local governments and communities have taken the opportunity to go beyond the strict legal requirements of the DDA to deal also with private residential housing, to ensure that at least some housing is built to be adaptable to the needs of people with disabilities.
This will be an increasingly important issue as our population ages.
To state the obvious, all of us are increasingly likely to have one or more significant disabilities - in mobility, hearing, vision and so on - as we get older.
For access and equality to be a reality in daily lives it needs to be happening locally - where people actually live - not only at national or state level.
For this reason I have been keen to appear at local government events to recognise the positive response of local government across Australia to the DDA.
I refer in particular to the take up of the voluntary Disability Action Plan concept by local government.
Over seventy local governments around Australia have prepared Disability Action Plans and provided them to the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission.
In fact there are more Disability Action Plans registered from local government than from all State and Commonwealth government departments and agencies combined.
That is still far from including every local government. Here in South
Australia for example, for every local government area which has lodged
an Action Plan, there are still three which have not.
Across the border in Victoria, around 60% of local governments currently have an Action Plan. The Municipal Association of Victoria expects that this year the figure will reach 85%.
This is an area where I would be very glad to see some old fashioned interstate rivalries develop. Perhaps we could have an action plan cup awarded at the same time the cricket competitions are decided.
In saying that I do not mean to trivialise the effort and commitment that goes into developing a worthwhile disability action plan.
In most cases local government action plans have involved extensive local consultation, and have been notable for recognition of the breadth of roles which local government has in creating accessible and inclusive communities:
- in ensuring accessibility of its own services and facilities;
- in playing a local leadership role in increasing awareness and acceptance of the needs of residents and visitors with disabilities;
- in its role in regulating building and development; and
- as provider or facilitator of services targeted to people with disabilities to enhance social participation.
Achieving accessibility in this range of local government roles covers many complex and technical issues. The issue of accessibility in the building environment alone has taken years of work at the national level and is still not complete. Other issues such as ensuring effective communications access for people with sensory disabilities or intellectual disabilities have their own complexities.
The starting points, though, for addressing these issues are matters of awareness and attitude: Awareness that each local community does include people with various disabilities; and an attitude that people with disabilities have an equal right to participate in the community and that services and systems will be changed to make this possible.
In conclusion let me repeat that this package will make an important contribution to expanding access and opportunity and citizenship for people with disabilities.
I congratulate all those involved in its production and I wish you well in using it.
Thank you.
