The consensus from the UN, UNICEF and the WHO is that there is a fundamental relationship between human rights and mental health. Importantly, the UN has recognised that young people are often forgotten in the human rights framework and specific approaches should be used to ensure their rights are upheld because they differ significantly from those of younger children. They advocate that the most effective human-rights approach to young people’s mental health care should be based on public health and psychosocial support rather than overmedicalization and institutionalization.
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Since Australia’s National Disability Insurance Scheme was created nearly ten years ago, its roll out has been closely scrutinised by governments, policymakers, researchers, and advocates. Dr Sue Olney, Dr Amber Mills and Liam Fallon discuss their research into how working-age people with disability without NDIS funding are faring. Their findings reveal a huge gap between talk and action on disability inclusion.
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Forms are innocuous, dry, and often boring pieces of bureaucratic technology that most people consider as an inconvenience. But despite their relatively innocuous nature, forms play a critical role in the collection of information and often represent a filtering mechanism in gaining access to programs or support in the modern welfare state.
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Health literacy is increasingly seen as a way to reduce health inequities. But are we relying too heavily on a concept that is becoming too broad to wield? Dr Jane Lloyd discusses if and how we can improve health literacy to address disadvantage.
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Refugees and asylum seekers in Australia face a myriad of challenges in accessing higher education. Welcoming Universities is a new initiative that aims to change that.
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In today's post, Dr Raelene West (@raelene_west) discusses the history and current state of Australia's National Disability Insurance Scheme. She argues that the NDIS is at a critical juncture, and that its success hinges on people with disability having a more significant role in its design and delivery. Dr West is a sociologist based at the Melbourne Disability Institute at the University of Melbourne, and she has lived experience of disability.
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New research reveals that women are underrepresented in Australia’s National Disability Insurance Scheme, and may be less likely to get the supports they need once they are on the scheme. In today’s post, three members of the research team - Sophie Yates, Gemma Carey and Jen Hargrave - present key findings from their study and call for further research and policy reform to address the gendered dimensions of inequality in the NDIS and other individualised funding models. This post was originally published on Broad Agenda and you can read the original article here.
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Wayne Herbert, disability employment professional and person with disability makes a powerful argument for inclusive education. Segregation in education is indefensible on human rights and outcomes grounds.
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Information accessibility is a right under that UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (Article 21) and is an area protected by the Disability Discrimination Act in Australia. Yet in the face of the COVID-19 crisis, the immediate reality and implications of this right have never been more apparent for people with disability: having access to good quality, up-to-date information in accessible formats is quite literally a matter of life and death. Dr Ariella Meltzer from the Centre for Social Impact, UNSW Sydney, examines some questions about what providing accessible information in such a crisis means.
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