The following items have been added recently to the NSW CID website.Invitation to attend ‘Healthier Lives’ forum – Tuesday 11 August 2009NSW CID would like to invite you to attend our upcoming health forum on Tuesday 11 August 2009. Please find the brochure for the forum here.
Please return the registration form to Lee-Anne Whitten as soon as possible as places are limited. Please pass on through your networks.
Healthier Lives
Tuesday 11 August 2009
Keynote Speaker: Associate Professor Nick Lennox Up to date Program for health forum click here
These fact sheets will be available in standard English for family members, professionals and service providers as well as in easy English designed to assist people with intellectual disability.
Fact sheet topics include: For more information please contact
Lee-Anne Whitten
National Human Rights ConsultationNSW CID has written a submission to the National Human Rights Consultation, highlighting the disadvantage and human rights breaches often experienced by people with intellectual disability. The national consultation aims to bring together as many views on the issue of human rights as possible. The Consultation Committee will report to the Government how effectively human rights are protected in Australia and what, if anything, needs to be done to better ensure human rights protections for all Australians.
The consultation has asked three key questions: We responded to these questions in our submission. We stated that all human rights need to be protected including civil, political, social, cultural and economic rights. We stated that all of these rights contribute to ensuring a good life with equality, access, support and choice. We highlighted that currently in NSW people with intellectual disability do not have access to the key components that make a good life. People with intellectual disability still remain largely segregated from the general community and have significant problems accessing the core services that allow them to lead a good life such as employment and access to decent health care. We noted that few, if any, people with intellectual disability have any choice regarding the key aspects of their life such as accommodation and personal care, and as such their experiences highlight the fact that at present not all human rights are sufficiently protected in Australia. We stated that in spite of legislation designed to protect people with disability, human rights breaches remain, meaning further human rights protections need to be in place. We believe this needs to be in the form of a Human Rights Charter which places the responsibility of ensuring better human rights protections on our politicians, elected into Government by the people. We do not believe that at present there is enough pressure on our elected officials to ensure that all legislation, policies and services take the needs of people’s human rights into consideration. If you would like to read our full submission click here Input into our submission was given by people with intellectual disability. In April 2009 we held a consultation with 25 individuals with intellectual disability where we asked a variety of questions about human rights. Whilst every participant’s individual experiences differed, every person did report experiencing human rights abuses in their lives. These views were submitted to the Committee as part of our final submission. If you would like to read the presentation given at the NSW CID Human Rights Consultation click here Bill Shorten addresses the National Press ClubBill Shorten MP, the Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities, addressed the National Press Club on 1 April 2009. His speech was entitled 'Right to an Ordinary Life' and is well worth a read!
Human rights consultation for people with intellectual disabilityThe Australian Government is holding a ‘National Human Rights Consultation’. Human Rights are about making sure that everyone has a go, and that everyone is treated the same and in a fair way. The Government wants to know if everyone feels they are treated in a fair and equal way. NSW CID wants to know what people with intellectual disability think about human rights. We will be holding a meeting for people with intellectual disability on human rights on Wednesday 22 April 2009. We want to know if you feel you are treated in a fair and equal way. We will listen to what you have to say and send your opinions to the Government. Please come along and tell us what you think. It is a very important chance to let the Government know about the needs of people with intellectual disability. To see the invitation to this event please click here:
NSW CID Welcomes ‘BrowseAloud’ NSW CID is committed to making our information as accessible as possible to people with intellectual disability. As a result we have been looking for technology that will help make our website more accessible and easier to use. In addition to our easy English pathway in our website, we have also made our website BrowseAloud-friendly. Browsealoud makes reading our website much easier, with the words being read out loud rather than having to rely on reading the words. BrowseAloud is a computer program that reads out all website content. As you move the cursor/mouse over words, they are spoken aloud. BrowseAloud is free for anyone to use. NSW CID’s website is BrowseAloud-friendly, so once you have downloaded the software our website will work with it. All you need to do to if you BrowseAloud is to click on this logo at the bottom of the NSW CID homepage: Then, follow the directions and download the program. It is really very easy to download and use. Every time you go to our website all you will need to do is move your mouse onto the sentence you want to read, it will highlight the sentence and read it back to you. Some other websites are also BrowseAloud-friendly, so once you have downloaded the software those websites will also be able to read back to you. These websites are not connected to NSW CID but are also committed to assisting people with reading difficulties to access their websites. If you have any questions about how to use BrowseAloud please contact us anytime on 02 9211 1611 or 1800 424 065 (outside Metro areas only). NSW CID Annual Report 2007/2008National Disability Employment Strategy - Discussion Paper and Terms of ReferenceLaunch of 'Enabling Justice' ReportNSW Ombudsman's ReportDisability in Australia: trends in prevalence, education, employment and community living (Australian Institute of Health and WelfareNational Pension Review |
