News from the wider disability community

Disability advocates say schools have an obligation to all students

ABC News online, 31st October 2015

Disability advocates say schools have an obligation to include all students, amid concern an autistic Hunter Valley boy was to be excluded from attending his Year 10 formal.

• Student with autism, Tyran Fennell, excluded from Year 10 formal and camp,  
  Gabriel Wingate-Pearse, Sydney Morning Herald, 31st October 2015

National Disability Awards finalists announced
The National Disability Awards recognise the valuable contribution organisations and people make to improving the lives of people with disability in Australia.

27 finalists have been selected for the 2015 National Disability Awards, from 200 nominations - they are listed here.

The National Disability Awards are part of the Commonwealth Government’s celebration of International Day of People with Disability.

The 2015 National Disability Award winners will be announced at a ceremony on Wednesday, 25 November at Parliament House in Canberra.

Australian Cross Disability Alliance: new website

Screen shot of the ACDA home page

From the ACDA 'About' page:

The Australian Cross Disability Alliance (ACDA) is a coalition of Disabled Peoples Organisations (DPOs), which are organisations run by and for people with disability. ACDA promotes and seeks to advance the human rights and freedoms of all people with disability in Australia. Our work is grounded in a normative human rights framework that recognises the United Nations human rights conventions and related mechanisms as fundamental tools for advancing the rights of people with disability in Australia and internationally. 

ACDA is the recognised nexus between government, people with disability and other stakeholders. Our key purpose is to promote, protect and advance the human rights and freedoms of people with disability in Australia by working collaboratively on areas of shared interests, purpose and strategic opportunity. 

One of ACDA's current campaigns is 'End the Violence', inviting you to urge your member of parliament to help end the violence against people with disability in Australia, by calling for:

• A Royal Commission into violence, abuse and neglect against people with disability in Australia.
• An overhaul of the criminal justice system
• The establishment of an independent national statutory watchdog to protect, investigate and enforce findings regarding violence, abuse and neglect against people with disability

Cultural change needed to address barriers in investigating abuse of people with disability, Senate inquiry told
Nick Wiggins, ABC News, 16th October 2015
There are significant barriers to complaints of abuse and neglect of people with disability being reported or investigated, a Senate inquiry has heard ...

White Flower Memorial e-campaign
This is a site to remember ALL Australians with disabilities who have died from violence and neglect ...

The White Flower Memorial is an initiative of disability rights activists, including Board members of People with Disability Australia (PWDA) to offer remembrance and thanks for the lives of people with disability who have died. In doing so, we collectively throw a spotlight on murder, violence, neglect and other practices which devalue the lives of all of us. We assert the right to life and dignity of the person under article 10 of the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disability ...

Every day from October 27 until November 25, 2015, White Flower Memorial will remember a person or people with a disability who has died as a result of violence, neglect or abuse.