Don’t miss Dr Rhonda Galbally on the National Press Club next week! Wednesday 7th October, ABC, 12:30 pm.

Excerpt from the NPC website:

Dr Galbally will present evidence from Shut Out – a report recently released by the National People with Disabilities and Carer Council. Shut Out provides the first comprehensive picture of what contemporary life is like for Australians with a disability and their families. The report is the result of an extensive Australia-wide consultation which asked people with a disability and their families what their lives were like and, most importantly, what they would like their lives to be like. As a result of this consultation process, the report is alive with the voices and stories of hundreds of Australians.

Shut Out is a damning indictment of the discrimination and exclusion experienced daily by many people with a disability and their families. Shut Out exposes a national disgrace for Australia – one of the wealthiest and most liveable nations in the world; a country where people with a disability find themselves shut out. Shut out of schools, shut out of jobs, shut out of housing, shut out of health care, shut out of community groups. Shut out of anything like a fair go – shut out of the Australian way of life.

Shut Out demonstrates that people with a disability face barriers, discrimination and disastrous government policy effecting every aspect of their daily lives. Children prevented from attending local childcare, kindergartens and schools; children with disabilities not learning to read or write. Qualified candidates for jobs screened out and rejected because of their disability. People unable to access public transport, buildings and activities such as shopping, going to the movies and eating in a café. Kids with disabilities excluded from local sporting groups and recreational clubs.

Shut Out is a shocking indictment showing that governments at all levels – national, states and local – are failing to provide people with the support, access and resources they need to meaningfully participate in and contribute to the community.

Read the Shut Out Report at the FAHCSIA webpage.

Categories: Politics, social justice

Tags: accessibility, australia, children, community, disability, discrimination, government, inaccessibility, prejudice, social inclusion