Disability Rights
Speech - My body, my health, my decision (2012)
Both men acquired their disabilities 20 years ago. Neither of them work, nor do they have daily activities, or relationships with people outside their family.
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Disability Rights
Disability Rights
Confessions of an ABC lover (2012)
For people who are blind or vision impaired, watching ABC TV has been a much richer experience lately. Unfortunately, that is about to change, writes Graeme Innes.
Disability Rights
Speech - Bus Industry Confederation National Conference (2012)
Thanks for the chance to speak with you today, and to have the opportunity for discussion. Who was Rosa Parks? She was the African-American who, in the 1960s - yes back in the last century - refused to sit at the back of the bus. She was one of the catalysts for the American civil rights movement.
Disability Rights
Speech - Keynote Address - Blind Citizens Australia (2012)
Keynote Address Blind Citizens Australia, NSW/ACT State Convention on 'Leadership Through Participation' Graeme Innes AMDisability Discrimination CommissionerAustralian Human Rights Commission Saturday 20 October, 2012 This speech is available as an audio file (MP3). Click here to listen to the...
Disability Rights
Speech - iPhone or Trombone: Age or Disability Don't Have to be Barriers (2012)
Alan used to work as a civil engineer, and is a trombone player with two orchestras and two bands. He has competed in the Australian Band Championships for the last three years. He sold his soils laboratory to 'retire', and has never looked back. He still works part-time in soil testing, but as well as trombone playing he is a volunteer in a Rotary shop, walks 30-40 kilometers weekly, won a silver medal in the 10 km Road Race in the Australian Masters Games 2012, and completed a novel for pre-teens called 'Alex', designed to raise awareness about healthy lifestyles.
Disability Rights
Speech -Keynote Address for Suncorp and PWC’s Traumatic Injury & Disability Insurance Summit (2012)
I'm a proud Australian. We live in a great democracy, with one of the strongest economies in the world. I'm not proud, though, of how we treat Australians with disability- some of our most disadvantaged citizens. And we are all ashamed that, in such a strong nation, that treatment continues. This shame can no longer continue. So let's fix the system. Let's have an NDIS so that not some, but every Australian counts. Thanks for the chance to speak with you today.
Disability Rights
Speech - Launch of the Civil Society Shadow Report (2012)
Australia became a party to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2008. The rest of the world refers to it by the unappealing acronym of CRPD, or the Disability Convention, but I like to refer to it as the Disco. It's catchy, and it creates a great image for me of people with disability dancing, and being to go anywhere they want - although I haven't been inside a disco for many a long year.
Disability Rights
Speech - Launch of Macquarie University’s Disability Action Plan (2012)
Ten years ago I gave the occasional address at a graduation at Sydney University. I accepted the invitation to speak in the Great Hall and then informed the University that - as the platform on which students received their degrees was not accessible for people with mobility disability - I would speak from the floor of the hall. I did that, and told the story of Bradley Kinsella. He had studied at QUT for three years about a further decade ago, and used his wheelchair all of that time. Despite their knowledge of his disability, QUT scheduled his degree in an inaccessible venue.
Disability Rights
Launch of Australian Federal Police Disability Action Plan (2012)
Launch of Australian Federal Police Disability Action Plan Thursday 2 August, 2012 Graeme Innes AMDisability Discrimination CommissionerAustralian Human Rights Commission I acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we meet today. Most of you would confidently tell me that Australians...
Disability Rights
Launch of Australian Federal Police Disability Action Plan (2012)
Most of you would confidently tell me that Australians are not held in prison for five or ten years when they have not been found guilty of any crime. We don't do that here you would say. And, as upholders of Australia's Federal law most people would accept your view. Sadly, you would be wrong.
Disability Rights
Access iQ Launch, Media Access Australia (2012)
Access iQ Launch, Media Access Australia Thursday, 19 July 2012 Graeme Innes AM Disability Discrimination Commissioner Australian Human Rights Commission Good morning, I'm Graeme Innes and I tweet. In fact I probably tweet five to six times a day. I get my breaking news on Twitter. I get my cricket...
Disability Rights
The DDA 20 Years On: Successes, Lessons and Future Directions (2012)
The DDA 20 Years On: Successes, Lessons and Future Directions 3rd Annual National Disability Summit Paving a future direction for disability policy reform in Australia Melbourne 27 June 2012 Graeme InnesDisability Discrimination Commissioner I acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which...
Disability Rights
The DDA 20 Years On: Successes, Lessons and Future Directions (2012)
At this Summit in 2010, I talked about the crucial roles of a National Disability Insurance Scheme. They were in moving to a society that respects, protects, promotes and fulfils human rights for people with disability. I used the title Money Changes Everything - But What's Insurance Got to Do with It?
Disability Rights
Launch of the Home to Home Digital Stories Exhibition (2012)
Whether you're recovering from the celebrations of your 19th birthday and experience a severe asthma attack; enjoying the highs and lows of a three-month-old baby and have a stroke; enjoying life when an assault causes a brain injury; or playing doubles with Sam Stosur when you have a skate-boarding accident; acquiring a disability can be a very tough experience.
Disability Rights
National Year of Reading 2012
For parents who are blind or have low vision like me, though, there was often a little complaint “Dad, your braille-reading hands are covering the pictures”.