PWD E-Bulletin |
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Issue 36, November 2006
Welcome to PWD’s e-bulletin. The e-bulletin goes out to members and interested others regularly by email. For members who do not have access to email, a printed version of the e-bulletin will be sent by post. To be added to or removed from our mailing list, or to change your email address, please contact Allyson Campbell at PWD on email pwd@pwd.org.au or on one of the numbers listed at the end of this bulletin.
Contents
New South Wales newsOther state and territory newsNational newsInternational newsThe inside storyNew publications and resourcesConferences and eventsAbout PWDPrivacy statement |
NSW news++International Day of People with Disability, 3 DecemberInternational Day of People with a Disability, to be held on Friday 3 December, is a day of celebration, inclusion and participation, recognising that people with disabilities actively participate in all aspects of society. It is 25 years since the United Nations declared 1981 to be the International Year of Disabled Persons.
The Hon. John Della Bosca, NSW Minister for Disability Services, will officially launch
the 25-year celebration of the International Day of People with a Disability. That will be an
opportunity to reflect on how far we have come as well as the challenges for the future. To celebrate
the International Day of People with a Disability, more than 150 events will take place across the state
during November and December, and more than 100,000 people are expected to attend those events. For more information about events, visit the web site :
www.internationaldayofpeoplewithadisability.com.au 2006 Aboriginal Justice AwardWell known Elder, Aboriginal Leader, Founder and Chairperson of the NSW Aboriginal Disability Network and film maker, Mr Lester Bostock, has won the NSW Law and Justice Foundation 2006 Aboriginal Justice Award. Lester received the award for his contribution to voicing the issues affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with disability locally, nationally and Internationally. He was nominated by People with Disability Australia, representatives of which also attended the NSW Law and Justice Award ceremony to see Lester receive the Award. In recent times Lester has also had time to be the Chairperson of the Marrickville Council Aboriginal Consultative Committee and Founding Chairperson and Elder Mentor of the Inner West Aboriginal Community Company based at Marrickville. Report on reviewable deaths in 2005, Volume 1: People with disabilities in careThe NSW Ombudsman has tabled its report on reviewable disability deaths. The report focuses on the deaths in 2005 of 67 people with disabilities who lived in residential care provided by disability services or licenced boarding houses. The review highlighted a number of areas for improvement in the delivery of services to people with disabilities in care. The Ombudsman noted that many of the people whose deaths are reviewed are highly vulnerable. In the main, these people are heavily dependent on accommodation and support services to meet their day-to-day needs and to link them with activities and services that many of us take for granted. Reviews this year by the NSW Ombudsman have highlighted a number of areas for improvement in the delivery of services to people with disabilities in care. These areas include the need for:
Some reviews also identified concerns about:
The NSW Ombudsman has made 28 recommendations to DADHC and NSW Health, and will closely monitor the progress of both agencies towards meeting these recommendations and working together to improve services for people with disabilities in care. ++Increased funding for mental health careThe Minister Assisting the Minster for Health (Mental Health), Cherie Burton, lodged the NSW Mental Health Act 2006 in the NSW Parliament on 22 November. An additional $939 million over five years will be invested in this critical area of health care. The Government claims that the Bill will provide a modern legislative framework to support the needs of consumers and front-line health workers, and will meet expectations of the community. Proposed changes follow a review process that commenced in later 2003, and involved wide consultation with stakeholders. Proposed changes include:
As part of the Iemma Government's reforms to mental health care in NSW, a questionnaire was released in Marrickville that will provide vital information on the experiences and opinions of consumers. The Shadow Minister for Mental Health, Judy Hopwood MP, has responded by saying that because the Bill was introduced on one of the last days of parliament, the law will not be enacted until after the state elections in March 2007. ++Proposed amendments to the Guardianship Act 1987 (NSW)The Guardianship Tribunal is seeking comments and submissions from the community on four proposed amendments to the Guardianship Act 1987 (NSW), dealing with the:
The amendments are discussed in detail in a discussion paper available at the Tribunal’s web-site: www.gt.nsw.gov.au Comments are invited up to 30 November 2006. The Tribunal’s Legal Officer, George Damalas is available to address any queries on (02)9552 8504 or at george.damalas@gt.nsw.gov.au . To contribute comment for PWD’s submission, please contact Senior Legal Officer, Matthew Keeley, or on (02) 9370 3100 at PWD. ++Amendments to the Education Act 1990 (NSW)The Education Legislation Amendment Bill, 2006 (NSW) was introduced into the Legislative Assembly on 27 October 2006, at which time the Bill’s First and Second Reading occurred and debate was adjourned. PWD, along with other organisations, was given only short notice of the Bill’s existence and imminent introduction into the Legislative Assembly. We very quickly became concerned about the provisions of Schedule 1, Clause [5] to the Bill. These provisions permitted the Department of Education and Training (DET) and both public and non-government schools to engage in a broad (and potentially secretive) information gathering exercise about a student whenever there was a perceived risk to health and safety related to the enrolment of that student, no matter how minor, how remote, or what the nature of the perceived risk was. Importantly, the Bill contained none of the principal safeguards found within NSW and Commonwealth privacy legislation, and could therefore have resulted in abuse of the personal and health information privacy rights of students and their families with potentially discriminatory and harmful effects. The Bill also empowered the Director-General to direct that a particular student should attend a particular kind of school. Most commentators believed that this direction would most likely have been used to direct attendance at behavioural schools, special schools, and SSPs, and that this new power would have had the greatest impacts on society’s already most marginalised students and families. The mechanism prescribed by he Bill also provided none of the safeguards that one would normally expect around such a serious decision: the right to notice of the decision being made, the right to notice of the allegations/issues being considered, the right to be heard prior to the decision being made, the right to independent review and appeal, etc. The DET’s view was that our concerns could be addressed in the formulation of Guidelines that the DET would draw up to guide its practices in these areas. PWD’s view was and remains that departmental guidelines are no substitute for legislative clarity and certainty and the scrutiny of Parliament, and that to delegate legislative responsibility in this way is to set a dangerous precedent. PWD and Family Advocacy (through the dynamic Belinda Epstein-Frisch) led a campaign against these provisions. Other organisations that lent support to the campaign included:
Thanks to their support and the support of parliamentarians of all political persuasions we have achieved significant improvements to the Bill. While not successful in having the provisions deleted entirely, the campaign was very successful in building into the Bill a range of safeguards designed to limit the Bill’s potential to abuse students’ and families’ privacy, administrative law, and educational rights. As a result of our advocacy and the support that we generated within both Houses of Parliament, and in particular in response to negotiations between the Hon. Minister for Education, Ms Carmel Tebbutt’s office and the office of the Hon. Shadow Minister for Education, Mr. Brad Hazzard, on Wednesday 15th November the Minister’s office contacted us to advise that amendments had been drafted. This was just hours prior to the reintroduction of the Bill into the Legislative Assembly. In summary the amendments:
In the second reading speech the Minister affirmed that the provisions related to only a very small number of violent students and that the guidelines would provide safeguards for privacy. Our major outstanding concerns related to:
On Thursday 16th November in the Legislative Council, the Greens’ Hon. Lee Rhiannon moved three amendments that were designed to provide the safeguards we and they sought. The proposed amendments were that:
Only the final amendment, establishing the right to an appeal to the Administrative Decisions Tribunal against a direction was passed. This however represents a significant gain over the pre-existing situation, and taken as a whole the amendments that were made to the Bill prior to its passage have resulted in a much fairer, better targeted, and more accountable law. PWD will be monitoring the implementation of this law closely. Please contact Senior Legal Officer, Matthew Keeley at PWD should you have any queries about the Bill or our campaign.++New Shadow Minister for Disability Services and AgeingNSW Liberal Leader, Peter Debnam, announced a Shadow Cabinet reshuffle on 20 November. Along with changes to a number of portfolios, Bega MP Andrew Constance will replace John Ryan as Shadow for Minister for Disability Services and Ageing.++CID turns 50The Minister for Disability Services, John Della Bosca, paid tribute to the NSW Council for Intellectual Disability (CID) at an event on 14 November 2006 to celebrate the organisation’s 50th birthday. Mr Della Bosca said the Council had been at the forefront of enormous change and had been a keen advocate and promoter of the rights of people with disability. “The Council has also been a vital partner with the State Government in developing new models of care and support,” Mr Della Bosca said. PWD congratulates CID on 50 years of active and tireless advocacy and support for people with intellectual disability in NSW. ++Position vacant -- Individual AdvocatePeople with Disability Australia Incorporated (PWD) is a leading disability rights and advocacy organisation based in Redfern, Sydney. Applications are invited for this permanent position that will provide short-term individual advocacy assistance to people with disability and their associates. Essential: understanding and commitment to the rights and interests of people with disability; knowledge of community services sector and complaints handling bodies in NSW; excellent communication skills; excellent record management ability; demonstrated capacity to manage time frames and competing priorities; ability to work effectively with people under stress; ability to work in a team environment; cultural competency, computer literacy in a Windows PC environment. Desirable: degree in social sciences or related discipline; personal or family experience of disability. Salary: base salary range $40K – 45K for 35 hour position including packaging arrangements available to maximum of $51K.Further information from: Matthew Bowden, Deputy Director, Advocacy. For an information package, contact Gem Mathieu on (02) 9370 3100 or TTY (02) 9318 2138 or email: gemm@pwd.org.au. PWD is willing to consider flexible work arrangements. People with disability and associates of people with disability, including those from culturally and linguistically diverse and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander backgrounds are encouraged to apply. Applications close 5pm, 8 December 2006. |
Other states and territory news |
National news++Australian Network for Universal Housing Design (ANUHD) National Forum a successApproximately 200 people attended the very successful National Forum of the Australian Network for Universal Housing Design (ANUHD) on 8 November at the Avillion Hotel, Sydney. PWD would like to thank the sponsors who made the forum possible. Copies of the speeches and other details of the Network can be found at: www.anuhd.org.++Meeting between Civil Aviation Authority CEO and Disability Discrimination CommissionerFollowing the meeting in July of this year on airline travel for people with disabilities, Bruce Byron (CASA) and Graeme Innes (HREOC) met recently to develop a strategy for clarification of perceived and real conflicts between CASA Regulations and Instruments, the DDA and Standards on Accessible Public Transport. CASA is currently conducting a review of all of its legislation, and this clarification will occur as part of that review. Senior officers from CASA and the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission will identify areas of conflict or overlap, and develop proposals for their clarification. These proposals will be put before CASA's consultative processes with industry, and both HREOC and representatives of the disability sector will be involved in those discussions. This process will occur over the next nine months or so, and will hopefully culminate in a joint statement from CASA and the Commission clarifying any conflicts or overlaps. It may also result in changes to CASA's regulations and instruments, and proposals from HREOC to the Transport Standards review. |
International news++International Day of Disabled Persons – message from UN Secretary-General
Following is UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s message on the International Day of Disabled Persons,
observed on 3 December: This is a welcome change. As information and communication technologies spread across the world, drawing in more and more users every day, most websites remained inaccessible to the millions of people who have difficulty manipulating a mouse, or who are visually impaired and need a “screen reader” or large fonts to read the page. Slowly, Governments and the private sector have been recognizing the economic and social benefits of making websites fully accessible, and have been putting in place changes involving software and hardware alike. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which is expected to be approved by the General Assembly later this month, can give additional impetus to this trend. States that choose to become party to the Convention will thereby commit themselves to taking steps to provide “information intended for the general public to persons with disabilities in accessible formats and technologies appropriate to different kinds of disabilities in a timely manner and without additional cost”. The Convention urges private businesses and mass media to do the same with their services. On this International Day, let us pledge again to do our utmost to achieve the vision of an inclusive, people-centred, development-oriented information society. And let us redouble our efforts to ensure that persons with disabilities can exercise their human rights and play their full part in the economic, social and political lives of their societies. ++UN Convention to go to General Assembly in DecemberThe Eighth Session of the Ad Hoc Committee will be holding a resume-meeting on Tuesday 5 December at 10am, at UN Headquarters, New York. At this meeting, the Committee will formally adopt the Draft Convention and send it to the UN General Assembly. Participants at the meeting will also celebrate International Day of Disabled Persons. Return to top |
The inside story++International Day for Disabled People, 29 November 2006PWD invites members to join the President, Board of Directors and staff on Wednesday 29 November 2006 at Freehills law firm, MLC Centre, Martin Place, Sydney, from 10.30am to 3.30pm. The theme for the day is Looking back… and looking ahead. PWD Advocacy will be hosting a hypothetical, “Are we really celebrating?” from 10.30am to 12.30pm. In the afternoon (1.30pm to 3.30pm), members will have the opportunity to talk about what the UN Convention (to go to the General Assembly in early December this year) means for people with disability in the future. Please rsvp to Allyson Campbell, PWD.by Tuesday 28 November. ++PWD Annual Report 2005-2006PWD’s Annual Report 2005-2006 is now available, and copies can be obtained from Allyson Campbell, PWD.. Members please note that copies will be mailed to you very soon. Return to top |
Publications and resources++New report looks at adaptive technologiesTechnology is enabling people with disabilities to actively participate in education and training programs, a new report concludes. Selecting and utilising assistive technologies in an e-learning context looks at a range of assistive and adaptive technologies that help learners with disabilities take in information and instructions, make notes and be assessed. The report has been put together by the national training system’s e-learning strategy, the Australian Flexible Learning Framework (Framework). It outlines a range of equipment that is suitable for people with vision impairment and blindness, hearing impairment and deafness, physical disability and neurological disability. Report author Andrew Downie, who has a visual impairment, said it was vital that students, teachers and administrators were aware of the availability of assistive and adaptive equipment and appreciated its significance. Among the key technologies outlined in the report are speech synthesis and recognition, screen readers, multimedia captions, key guards and word prediction. The report also reviews the adaptive and assistive features in mainstream operating systems such as Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Word, these include screen magnifier, mouse keys and auto-correct. Selecting and utilising assistive technologies in an e-learning context was commissioned as a reference document to help education and training organisations meet their legal obligation to learners with disabilities. It is also an important background paper to guide seven e-learning trials which are currently being run under the Framework’s Inclusive e-Learning (Learners with Disabilities) Project. For a copy of the full report visit: http://www.flexiblelearning.net.au/inclusive. For more information about the Framework, its products, resources and support networks, contact the National Communication Project, tel: (07) 3307 4700, email: enquiries@flexiblelearning.net.au or visit: http://www.flexiblelearning.net.au/. http://www.flexiblelearning.net.au/ Return to top |
Conferences and events++30 November-1 DecemberIDEAS EXPO 2006, Albury, NSW. Over 20 equipment suppliers and 20 service providers will be exhibiting at the Mirambeena Centre in Lavington, Albury on Thursday 30th November and Friday 1st December. The event will act as a major draw card to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of International Day for People with a Disability. People will travel from across the south west of NSW to attend the event, and we are expecting in excess of 2000 people to attend over the two days.++1 December‘See through my eyes’, a creative arts project by people with disability living in the city and inner west areas of Sydney, opens at Sydney Town Hall foyer. Initiated by City and Inner West Disability Advocacy, the participating artists have met each week for three months, working with a variety of mediums including photography, screen-printing, painting, graphics, etching, and sculpture. Together the artists have developed an impressive group of works which comment on disability, community, advocacy and living within the city and inner west areas of Sydney.
Opening Night is on Friday 1 December 2006, 5-7pm, at Sydney Town Hall House Foyer, corner of Kent and Druitt
Streets, Sydney City. The venue is wheelchair accessible.
Visit http://www.mdaa.org.au/ciwda/photovoice.pdf ++2-5 January 2007Semantic and Sociolinguistic features of Auslan, Seminar organised by Department of Languages, Canberra Institute of Technology. Guest lecturer: Sandra Leane, Professional Auslan Interpreter. For further information, contact Amanda Dolejsi, phone: 62074350; email: mandy.dolejsi@cit.act.edu.au; or Margot McKenna, phone: 62073500; email: margot.mckenna@cit.act.edu.au. Closing date for enrolments is Friday, 8 December 2006++7-9 February 2007Having a Say Conference 2007, Geelong, Victoria. Early bird registration rates available until 24 November2006. The Conference Registration Form and the Sponsorship application are available on the conference website: http://www.valid.org.au.++12-13 March 200723rd Annual Pacific Rim Conference on Disabilities at Sheraton Waikiki Hotel & Resort: Call for papers and registration now open. For information, go to http://www.pacrim.hawaii.edu.++7-10 March 2007Online registrations are now open for the 9th National Rural Health Conference to be held in Albury in March 2007 at www.ruralhealth.org.au and the full program has also been published. The website contains all the information you will need about the cost of registration, pre-conference events, the venue, the exhibition, sponsorship opportunities, travel and accommodation. Please contact us if you unable to access the internet or if you have any troubledownloading documents or registering online. PO Box 280Deakin West ACT 2600 Phone: 02 6285 4660 Email: conference@ruralhealth.org.au ++2-3 April 2007The ACROD 2007 Ageing and Disability Conference at the Hilton Hotel, Adelaide aims to integrate policy, research and practice to improve society’s response to the needs and lifestyle preferences of older people with disability. ACROD Limited is calling for the submission of abstracts from people wishing to present papers at the Conference. Abstracts are due 9 October 2006. Enquiries: Philippa Angley, ACROD Victoria, Ph 03 9362 0800 or 0411 773 707, philippa.angley@acrod.org.au ; www.acrod.org.au/conferences/a&d2007/home.htm ++5-8 May, 2007Round Table on Information Access for People with Print Disabilities Inc. Call for Papers - 2007 National Conference, Saturday 5th May – Tuesday 8th May 2007 at Chifley Hotel, Adelaide, South Australia:
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++About PWDPeople with Disability Australia Incorporated (PWD) is a national disability rights and advocacy organisation. Its primary membership is people with disability and organisations primarily made up of people with disability. PWD also has a large associate membership of other individuals and organisations committed to the disability rights movement. PWD was founded in 1981, the International Year of Disabled People, to provide people with disability with a voice of our own. We have a cross-disability focus; we represent the interests of people with all kinds of disability. PWD is a non-profit, non-government organisation. For information about membership of PWD, contact Allyson Campbell, PWD. ++PWD's training servicesPWD has extensive experience in the development and delivery of professional training across a wide range of disability areas, including:
Training packages developed are flexible and tailor-made to meet the needs of the particular organisation. To find out more about PWD's training services or to discuss your specific training needs, contact our Senior Education Officer, Samantha French or Ph 02 9370 3100. |
++Privacy statementWe are committed to protecting your privacy. In doing so, we commit ourselves to conforming to the Privacy Amendment (Private Sector) Bill 2000, which came into effect in December 2001 and the National Privacy Principles issued by the Australian Privacy Commissioner. This newsletter is distributed by email. You have provided us with an email address. This email address will be used only for the purpose for which you have provided it and you will not be added to any other mailing lists unless you specifically request that this be done. Your email address will not be disclosed without your consent. You can have your email address removed from the mailing list for this newsletter by sending an email to
Allyson Campbell, PWD. This newsletter contains links to websites. We cannot be held responsible for the privacy practices (or lack thereof) or the content of such websites. |
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