Broken, not just broke!
AFDO’s response to the Shut Out report

“If I lived in a society where being in a wheelchair was no more remarkable than wearing glasses, and if the community was completely accepting and accessible, my disability would be an inconvenience and not much more than that. It is society which handicaps me, far more seriously and completely than the fact that I have Spina Bifida.”

“I remember my Year 8 science teacher said she couldn’t wear my Microphone because it put holes in her clothes. I couldn’t do anything about it … she was the teacher – I was the student. For the record – I failed Year 8 science – and it had nothing to do with my ability because in Year 9 science, I had a teacher who wore the Mic and I topped the class.”

These two quotes come from the Shut Out report produced by National People with Disabilities and Carer Council after extensive nationwide community consultations as part of the federal government’s emerging National Disability Strategy (NDS). They show that that the primary concern of people with disabilities around Australia is not just a crisis of inadequate funding and resources (desperate though this is) but the “systemic and systematic” discrimination experienced by people with disabilities.
Describing the current disability service system as “irretrievably broken and broke”, the Shut Out report identifies four strategic priorities for the NDS:

1. Increasing the social, economic and cultural participation of people with disabilities and their families, friends and carers.
2. Introducing measures that address discrimination and human rights violations.
3. Improving disability support and services.
4. Building in major reform to ensure the adequate financing of disability support over time.

AFDO endorses these priorities but emphasises that the current system is indeed broke as well as broken – i.e. genuine reform will require adequate funding and resources. In particular:

• AFDO endorses the call in Shut Out for what it calls “the need for a lifetime care and support scheme” along the lines of the National Disability Insurance Scheme that is also mentioned and currently under consideration by the government.
• It is not only the source of funding but also the manner in which it is distributed that needs radical reform. To achieve this, AFDO has called for a Disability Inclusion Allowance that is individualised, self-directed and adequate for the full range of supports that people with disabilities need in order to achieve genuine inclusion and participation in Australian society.

AFDO also agrees with Shut Out that “piecemeal reform will not suffice”. There is widespread feeling that that “the service system is so fundamentally flawed as to be beyond bandaid solutions, requiring a paradigm shift to deliver lasting change”.

The paradigm shift that is required must look beyond just disability services and address the discrimination that is “entrenched in the everyday practices of government, businesses, community groups and individuals”. It must be based on principles of the human rights and social inclusion of people with disabilities to actively challenge the “lack of commitment to inclusion and a widespread lack of understanding of its benefits” throughout Australian society.

A better deal for people with disabilities is no longer just an economic issue that focuses on the costs of disability. It is a human rights issue that must now include an analysis of the costs of exclusion – the human and social costs, as well as economic costs, of the current discrimination against people with disabilities. It is no longer acceptable for people with disabilities to pick up the tab on society’s discrimination against them.

The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) is not just a legal document with strict obligations on all governments in Australia to protect the human rights and eliminate discrimination against people with disabilities. It also provides a framework for the paradigm shift that Shut Out calls for and should be the guiding document for the NDS.

The CRPD emphasizes the critical importance of involving people with disabilities and their organisations in every aspect and every stage of disability reform. In the CRPD this is not just a good idea but is now also a strict obligation. The National Disability Strategy will only succeed if people with disabilities and their organisations are actively involved every step of the way – without this, we can say for certain that failure of the Strategy is guaranteed.

The CRPD includes obligations for the federal government to establish a “focal point” with responsibility for overseeing and ensuring the implementation of the Convention. This poses special challenges given (a) the range of portfolios that must respond to the CRPD and (b) Australia’s federal system where states are often responsible for disability issues. Shut Out identifies the need for a national Office of Disability, which AFDO endorses but also points out that no one portfolio or government department can adequately assume responsibility for this Office. AFDO further stresses – again – that an effective Office of Disability requires the active inclusion of people with disabilities and their organisations.

Similarly, the CRPD includes obligations for an “independent mechanism” to monitor the implementation of the Convention. Whether this is the current Human Rights Commission or a separate body specifically for the purpose of disability rights, it is again essential the people with disabilities and their organisations are active participants in the monitoring of the National Disability Strategy as well as the CRPD.

After more than a year of reviews and consultations, it’s time now for the National Disability Strategy to be concluded in order to get on with its implementation, including the implementation of the CRPD. As Rhonda Galbally says in her preface to Shut Out, the “nation’s forgotten people” have been waiting for many years for change and we will not wait any longer.