NATIONAL People with Disabilities and Carer Council chair Dr Rhonda Galbally prefaced an Australian Government report with a blunt summing-up of the problems faced by Australians with disabilities and their families.
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"Many people in the community believe disability is someone else's problem," Dr Galbally wrote in the 2009 report.
"They do not believe disability will touch their lives, and give little thought to the experience of living with disability. Without first-hand experience they hold on to the belief that at least things are better than they used to be."
The report, Shut Out, a national disability strategy, said people with disabilities were shut in for years - hidden away in large institutions. While that changed from the late 1980s, by 2009 many people with disabilities who moved into the community found themselves shut out - from buildings, homes, schools, businesses, sports and community groups ill-equipped or unwilling to accommodate people with disabilities.
Gradually legislation forced some changes so that accessibility for all became the basis on which many organisations operated.
But those changes and laws to open up society to people with disabilities did not occur without advocacy, intense communication and commitment.
Which is why indications that Ability Links funding will cease and the service end from early November is concerning.
So much of opening up the community to people with different needs is about helping people to look at issues from the perspective of someone with a disability. It is about making connections and putting the time and effort into understanding those needs. And that takes money.
The St Vincent de Paul Society operates Ability Links in the Hunter. It identifies need and assists organisations open up to people with disabilities. On its website Ability Links provides the case study of teenager Warren, who loves chess and has autism.
Warren wanted to share his chess skills. Ability Links connected Warren with his local library which supported him in becoming a chess tutor for its community chess club. It meant a profound and positive change for Warren, his family and the local community he is now connected with.
The NSW Government must clarify what changes are planned, and urgently.
Issue: 39,385.