Website of the week: Australian Human Rights Commission - Disability Rights

The Australian Human Rights Commission is the new name of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. The Commission was established in 1986 by an act of the Australian Parliament. It is an independent statutory organisation reporting  to the Australian Parliament through the Attorney-General. The Commission is charged with protecting and promoting the human rights of all people in Australia.


The Commission maintains a comprehensive website, with a section dedicated to the rights of people with disabilities, and the  Disability Rights blog. The Disability Discrimination Commissioner is Graeme Innes AM.


The Disability Rights office works on the straightforward premise (and Australian law) that ... people with disabilities have the same human rights as all members of the community.


Overview from the Disability Rights home page:

• The Australian Human Rights Commission leads the implementation of the Disability Discrimination Act 1992. This Act makes disability discrimination unlawful and aims to promote equal rights, opportunity and access for people with disabilities.
• The Commission also has major responsibilities under the international Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
• Complaints about discrimination and breaches of human rights can be made to the Australian Human Rights Commission.
• The Commission also performs a wide range of functions to assist organisations and individuals to understand their rights and meet their legal responsibilities.
• We conduct public inquiries, negotiate disability guidelines and standards, support organisations to develop Disability Action Plans and run community education programs.

20 Stories, 20 years is a project announced recently on the Disability Rights blog:

Australia’s Disability Discrimination Act will have been in force for 20 years in March next year, and we’d like you to share in the celebrations.

To recognise how the lives of Australians with disability have changed during this period, we are compiling a series called “twenty years, twenty stories”.

These stories, which we plan to turn into short videos, will illustrate those changes, and show how the law has been used to achieve systemic change.

WE NEED YOU TO TELL US THOSE STORIES ... click here for details of how to contribute.