Humanity Platform

 Australia let’s keep this referendum vote simple. All we have to do is write yes or no to one question: “A Proposed Law: to alter the Constitution to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice.   Do you approve this proposed alteration?”  The Voice proposal does not give Indigenous people a separate power over the country only the power to work with the Government and Parliament on matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.  It also gives Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people recognition and a place of honour in our constitution as the original custodians of this land.  I have been campaigning for Yes and voting yes for three reasons.  First I am voting yes out of respect for my family and friends who come from an indigenous background.  Second I am voting yes because as a person who lives with a disability, I don’t believe it is fair that people from Aboriginal...

As people transition through the milestones of life, sexuality shifts and flows with them and it is important to allied health professionals and other support workers to include sexuality in their discussions with their clients as part of the kaleidoscope of life.  My sexual journey, or beginning of my sexuality, reached its first milestone when I was thirteen. The only problem was that the sex education I received at the time didn’t take into account my disability and how that might impact my sexuality.  What I needed at the time was not so much practical support to engage in sexual activity but verbal and emotional support where I could safely talk about my experiences and what the support could look like in the future.  As I got older my desire to safely express my sexuality grew but unfortunately the support and knowledge around sexuality did not grow with me. For example, I engaged both a psychologist and occupational therapist to help me come up with strategies to e...

 When it comes to mental health many people still struggle to have the conversations. RU OK Day 2023 gives everyone the perfect opportunity to let someone know that you are here to hear.  RU OK Day gives everyone the opportunity to ask if you’re okay, listen to the answer, encourage someone struggling with mental health to take action, and to check in.  In my personal mental health journey people have sometimes been reluctant to ask if I was okay because they saw my disability as an obvious sign that I’m not okay. Even medical professionals dismiss my mental health and depression for far too long because ‘of course my cerebral palsy must make me depressed’.  It is important when working in the disability space to treat mental health and physical disability separately.  Anecdotal evidence does suggest that 1 in 2 people with a physical disability will experience mental health struggles in their lifetime but it is important to not make an assumption and never be a...

 People with disabilities will of course be aware of International Day of People with Disabilities. What they might be less aware of is Disability Pride Month. Although Disability Pride Month started to celebrate the signing of the Americans' with Disabilities Act it is slowly being adopted by disabled people around the world as a sign of disabled pride.  For too long in human history having a disability has been something to be hidden away from in the community.  Disabled Pride Month allows people with disabilities to take back our power. Taking inspiration from the LGBTQIA+ flag, disabled pride has our own flag. A flag designed by writer Ann Magill. The flag's design represents different types of disability by individual coloured lines sitting parallel to each other to indicate solidarity.  The colour scheme is as follows: white represents people with invisible disabilities, red represents those of us with physical disabilities, blue represents individuals with men...

 In life the universe or God sends us down certain paths if we pay attention and lately for me that path has lead me to speak up about accessibility. First of all with Global Accessibility Day in May and now with an invitation to speak at my local art gallery about disability awareness and accessibility.  If you live with a disability in this world some of the biggest challenges you have to overcome are accessibility related.  I have to live my life planning everything like a military operation. The first thing I have to figure out is are the places I want to go accessible and even though in the modern world by law things have to be accessible in practice that is not always possible.  I have missed out on attending many events with friends and family because the venue simply was not accessible.  So how can we start making things accessible?  First of all, we need to start getting people with disabilities involved at the start of projects and have accessibil...

 I was fortunate enough to be invited as a panellist for GenU's inaugural webinar for the Global Accessibility Awareness Day.  The GAAD aims to raise awareness and promote global accessibility for people with disabilities in the digital space. We are all aware that in the developed world physical access to the community is a human right but we now live in an increasingly digital space with most of us living a big chunk of our lives online.  This can either be more empowering for the disability community or sometimes disempowering depending on how much thought the technology companies put into accessibility to their digital products.  I personally have used the digital world to increase my independence since the early nineties. I was the youngest person in the southern hemisphere to use Dragon Naturally Speaking, the voice dictation software, that first came out. I still use the software to this day and supplement it with other voice recognition programs such as Apple...

 TRIGGER/CONTENT WARNING: The following content may include triggers for sexual assault survivors and is only suitable for people over 15 years of age.  It is a disturbing fact that 85% of people with disabilities experience abuse in their lifetime. So when I was sent an article about a sexual assault counsellor accused of sexual misconduct with a client, who then was able to get a position with NDIS participants I was outraged.  When the Geelong Sexual Assault & Family Violence (SAFV) Centre counsellor was suspended from counselling because of sexual misconduct with a client he went on to work with NDIS participants.  According to the news.com.au article the man at the centre of the story groomed a client from 2018 to 2020. So I ask you how does this man get a position where he then has responsibilities for people with disabilities? Many people with disabilities are already vulnerable with most cases of abuse happening with the perpetrators being the primary car...