Skip to main content
Disability Rights

Launch of Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District Action Plan

Sarah - not her real name - studied law at university. Not only did she earn a good law degree, she won the university medal. She also won competitions for mooting- conducting mock trials for those of you smart enough not to have chosen law as your profession. She could not get a job - or even an interview - with the Australian public service because she has a significant disability, including using a wheelchair, and some verbal communication issues.

Category, Speech
Disability Rights

Human rights: everyone, everywhere, everyday

Maria has cerebral palsy and little speech. She wanted to tell police about a sexual assault, but there was no communication support worker to help with the statement. The police relied on Maria's parents to provide communication support. Maria was uncomfortable giving personal details of the...

Category, Opinion
Disability Rights

Launch of Love and Kisses- taking action on the reproductive and sexual health and rights of people with disability

Stella Young is a vivacious journalist, with a love of dinosaurs and Melbourne night life. She edits the ABC's Disability Portal Ramp Up. She uses a wheelchair. Her disability means that she often breaks bones, and her parents took her to hospital when she broke her leg whilst on a family holiday. Stella was about four years old. The doctor - whilst repairing the break - said to her parents "well, while she's under anaesthetic we may as well perform the hysterectomy." Luckily for Stella, her parents refused.

Category, Speech
Disability Rights

Speech to Australia's Network on Disability International Day Function

Click here to download presentation slide I acknowledge the traditional owners of this land. *Slide with contact details* I've pondered for a while how to theme this speech. After all, it’s my last international day as Commissioner, as my term concludes in July next year. And 2013 - a huge year of...

Category, Speech
Disability Rights

ABS International Day of People with Disability

I acknowledge the traditional owners of this land. I have a dream that my children will grow up in a nation where they are not judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character. Who said these words? Martin Luther King. If I can adapt that quote, I have a dream that my...

Category, Speech
Disability Rights

Presentation to Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

I acknowledge the traditional owners of this land. Thanks for the chance to have this discussion this afternoon. It's a relatively small group so I hope it can be quite informal. We've just seen one of the films from the Australian Human Rights Commission's Twenty Years: Twenty Stories project. I...

Category, Speech
Disability Rights

We have to stop this

“Are you talking about rape? I’ve been raped many times. You just have to get used to it.” Imagine that your daughter, sister, mother, wife, girlfriend or female friend had the grave misfortune to have this happen to her - and that this statement, thick with defeat and resignation, was her response...

Category, Opinion
Disability Rights

Housing Demonstration Project Launch of The Summer Foundation Apartments

Patricia had a degenerative disability, and lived in Department Of Housing accommodation. She has used a wheelchair for the last few years. It was a beautiful sunny day outside, but we talked in her kitchen while my friends from church worked in her garden. She told me she didn't leave the house much, and had only gone out a couple of times this year- it was September.

Category, Speech
Disability Rights

Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities - Opening Statement

Good afternoon Committee members, and thank you for the opportunity to appear before you. Australia is a developed country which places importance on human rights issues. Our Government has participated in the development of many United Nations human rights treaties, including the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Category, Speech