Disability & Accessibility

One of the tenets of the Australian character and our values as a nation is that we treat everyone equally and respect those who, for whatever reason, may be different from the majority of us.
One area where this remains an ongoing challenge is how society treats people with a disability, how accessible goods and services are and how inclusion (and diversity) tends to get lost when society is driven by cost-cutting and profit-making.
People with a disability, as the Australian Human Rights Commission regularly highlights, face daily barriers when engaging in ordinary tasks that many of us without a disability take for granted.
These barriers can include, as examples:

1.    Access into and out of buildings;
2.    Noise impediments for the hard of hearing;
3.    How physical adjustments in the workplace can make the work environment more accessible;
4.    Cognitive impairments such as memory loss, changes in communication styles, difficulty with everyday tasks and behaviour and social interaction.
5.    How information is made available for goods and services (for example, to the deaf or hard of hearing or those with permanent or partial blindness);
6.    Treating people differently because they are different and
7.    Language challenges, with limited knowledge of Auslan (Australian Sign Language) in the community.

While Australian law prevents direct or indirect discrimination based on a disability, experiences within the disability community tell us that so much more could be done, and we should never abandon our endeavours to include everyone within society.
We should not give up on our efforts to empower those with a disability to live a life as we would want to do and allow them to make choices for their lives and future.
It does not take much, and eliminating even the smallest barriers can help to empower people with a disability to feel included and respected as equal members of our community.
It would be a wonderful start to 2026 if we could each, in any small way we can, help to lessen or remove such barriers so our fellow human beings can live their lives with dignity, respect and a belief that everyone is valued equally, so let’s all advocate for these changes!
My wish for 2026 is for greater resources for the teaching of Auslan to everyone (the Australian sign language), so we can help to close the existing gap of communicating with those who are deaf or who have significant hearing impairments or whose disability only allows them to communicate through sign language. Creating better communication avenues can help to reduce a significant disability barrier.
To you all, best wishes for the festive season, and may your 2026 be happy and prosperous.