2.2.1 Social exclusion and lack of community participation
There are still widespread misconceptions and stereotypes about people with a disability. These include that they are a danger, a burden, and a threat. It is not uncommon to hear people express the view that people with a disability would be better off in institutions with people of their own kind. There also appears to be a common belief that people with a disability are not able to make a significant contribution to the community, and that they are somehow not of equal value as human beings and members of the community. Many people have low expectations of people with a disability, believing that they cannot learn or are not able to do anything useful. They are often denied opportunities to experience life, to explore their potential and achieve success, because it is assumed that their potential is limited. It is often stated that people with a disability are tolerated in the community, but tolerance is not acceptance and genuine inclusion.
In a society where the values that predominate are power and wealth, physical prowess and beauty, intelligence, competition, autonomy and self-control, many people with a disability are marginalised and devalued. It could well be that many people are fearful about engaging with and including people who live with a disability as a result of a lack of knowledge, and that people with a disability are treated as ‘the other’ rather than involved.
*****
If I lived in a society where being in a wheelchair was no more remarkable than wearing glasses, and if the community was completely accepting and accessible, my disability would be an inconvenience and not much more than that. It is society which handicaps me, far more seriously and completely than the fact that I have Spina Bifida.
Lack of social inclusion and the multiple barriers to meaningful participation in the community faced by people with disabilities were the most frequently raised issues in the submissions and consultations. More than half the submissions received (56 per cent) discussed the experience of exclusion and the impact of negative social attitudes on the lives of people with disabilities and their families, friends and carers.
These submissions made it clear that very little progress has been made in challenging prevailing myths and stereotypes about people with disabilities. They still find themselves the subjects of fear and ignorance, regarded as burdens or objects of pity.
More often than not, people with disabilities are seen as recipients of services and a burden rather than equal members of the community.
These misconceptions continue to inform both attitudes and behaviour, resulting in exclusion and discrimination. As one respondent suggested,
Societal attitudes have not developed in isolation from the ways that we have historically responded to people with disabilities. Nor can they be adequately addressed without changing the way we continue to respond to people with disabilities. It can be argued that negative attitudes, myths, stereotypes are both the cause and result of social exclusion for people with disabilities through service practices that segregate and congregate people with disabilities.
The submissions made it clear that negative attitudes are both powerful and entrenched and, as a result, exclusion is both systematic and systemic. Widespread misconceptions and ignorance about people with disabilities are still informing the attitudes and behaviour of government, service providers, businesses and individuals in the community. People with disabilities, and their families, friends and carers, reported daily instances of being segregated, excluded and ignored. As one submission noted,
The greatest barrier facing people with Down Syndrome is not their intellectual disability but confronting negative attitudes, overcoming outdated stereotypes and challenging the limitations placed on them by others. What they lack is not ability but opportunity. The National Disability Strategy represents a significant opportunity to break down the barriers and create the kinds of opportunities people with Down Syndrome need to live the ordinary life to which they aspire.
When not regarded as invisible, many reported frustration at the patronising way they were treated. There was significant resentment at constantly being regarded as passive recipients of charity who should demonstrate considerable gratitude for whatever meagre offerings they received.
These entrenched and widespread attitudes mean that many people with disabilities, and their families, friends and carers, experience considerable difficulty accessing the kinds of services others in the community take for granted. Many submissions outlined in detail the barriers people faced when trying to access services to meet basic health, education, social and recreational needs. The examples were many—the Neighbourhood House that only offered segregated programs for participants with disabilities, the child with a disability refused kindergarten enrolment, the young man with autism unable to find a school willing to include and support him, the doctor’s office with nothing but a kitchen table suitable for the examination of a woman with a disability. One submission told the story of a community recreation program unwilling to include a child with an intellectual disability in a gymnastics class.
The gym offered a separate class for kids with disabilities. I asked one of the teachers whether it would be possible for my daughter to attend one of the other mainstream classes. She frowned and looked concerned, and said that was why they had created the separate class. I said she was perfectly capable of joining in with the other girls. She said ‘Well that’s OK for your daughter but if we let her in we will have to let everyone else in’. These are not elite gymnasts. They are little girls jumping around in leotards having fun on a Saturday morning.
Most respondents were realistic in their assessment of what could be achieved. People with disabilities are all too aware of the impact of their impairment. They live with it every day. But what they are clearly angry about is the way that impairment interacts with the social and physical environment. They do not want mountains to be moved. But they do want to be able to go to the library or the movies. As one respondent noted,
I do not expect to get access to the pyramids or Uluru but I do want to get into all of the library and all of the community centre.
And another said,
How we view impairment and disability has changed dramatically over recent years … although the impairment a person has is a reality, the disablement is caused by environmental and social barriers.
Proposed solutions
Proposed solutions varied widely. Some felt that the National Disability Strategy had an important role to play in establishing a social inclusion framework that could underpin all policies and programs. Many called for an end to segregated services and options for people with disabilities, and their families, friends and carers, which they believed only reinforced and exacerbated prevailing attitudes. They suggested instead a more integrated approach to policies, programs and services. Others suggested broadening the aims of disability-specific programs and services from function and independence to social inclusion and community participation. Still others emphasised the importance of choice. Many suggested addressing the invisibility of people with disabilities in the community through education and awareness campaigns.
[ top ]
2.2.2 Discrimination and human rights violations
In 2008, the Australian Government ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. But as many submissions and consultation participants were quick to point out, ratification does not ensure compliance. The gap between the principles enshrined in the legislation and the lived experience of many people with disabilities was a recurring theme—in fact, the issue of rights and discrimination was raised in 39 per cent of submissions. People with disabilities reported experiencing discrimination in every aspect of their lives, with one submission noting:
Persons with disability are subject to multiple and aggravated forms of human rights violations, including the neglect of their most basic survival related needs. These human rights violations do not only occur in far off places that lack enlightened legislation and policies, or the resources needed to meet basic needs. They occur every day, in every region, of every state and territory in Australia. Virtually every Australian with disability encounters human rights violations at some points in their lives, and very many experience it every day of their lives.
In 2009, in one of the most enlightened and wealthiest nations in the world, it is possible for persons with disability to die of starvation in specialist disability services, to have life-sustaining medical treatments denied or withdrawn in health services, to be raped or assaulted without any reasonable prospect of these crimes being detected, investigated or prosecuted by the legal system, and to have their children removed by child protection authorities on the prejudiced assumption that disability simply equates with incompetent parenting.
Submissions argued that discrimination is both systemic and systematic, entrenched in the everyday practices of government, businesses, community groups and individuals. The majority of complaints received by the Australian Human Rights Commission in 2007-08 involved discrimination on the basis of disability. People with disabilities and their families, friends and carers face discrimination in all areas including education, employment, health care and housing. Many detailed the multiple barriers they experience every day trying to access facilities and services that everyone else in the community takes for granted.
As a widower with two intellectually disabled children, I had enrolled one of them (aged three years) in a child care centre so I could return to work. After two to three weeks when I took this child to the centre on my way to work I was told at the door that he could no longer attend the centre from that day. The reason given was that he was intellectually disabled with behavioural problems that did not suit the environment. I had explained the situation fully prior to his enrolment. I then had to seek an alternative means of support for that day and on a permanent basis.
*****
There would be community outrage if we said that we won’t allow people onto all of our public transport for the next 25 years because of their cultural background, gender or religious beliefs. Or, that these people can only travel on 50 per cent of our buses in Australia up to 2012. There would be a national and international outburst of rage and non-acceptance if either of these two proposals were made. Yet this is exactly what is contained in regulatory legislation in Australia today. People in wheelchairs continue to have to wait at bus stops, in all types of weather, while others get onto the bus because, on average, every second bus in Australia is not accessible. This continues to happen every day in all capital cities around Australia and thousands of Australians with disabilities have no other option but to wait for the next bus and just hope that it will be accessible. Where is the community outrage?
The submissions also made it clear that one important reason discrimination had become so systematic and entrenched was the lack of redress. Submissions noted that legislation protecting the rights of people with disabilities is inconsistent across jurisdictions, and there is a remarkable lack of monitoring and enforcement of standards and no effective independent complaints process. A number of submissions argued that the process to lodge a complaint under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cwlth)is onerous and relies too heavily on individuals being prepared and able to take part in lengthy and costly legal proceedings. The significant personal and financial cost involved in making a complaint prevents many from taking their concerns forward.
A number of submissions also argued that the invisibility of people with disabilities in the community hinders the fight against exclusion and discrimination. Many believed Australians are generally unaware and would be truly shocked at the quality of life of many people with disabilities and their families, friends and carers. These submissions argued that there is a pressing need for greater independent advocacy for and by people with disabilities to ensure their stories are told and their voices heard. They also called for the creation of more opportunities for leadership development for people with disabilities to enable them to participate in the political and policy process.
Other issues raised by submissions included:
- concern over the practice of relinquishing children with disabilities to state care as a last resort to ensure access to services
- the over-representation of people with disabilities in the criminal justice system, and the specific needs of people with disabilities to enable full participation in the legal system
- abuse of children with disabilities in institutional settings including respite services
- lack of access to voting facilities to protect the right to a secret ballot
- gender-based discrimination and violence against women with disabilities
- migration issues, such as the exclusion of the Migration Act 1958 (Cwlth) from the Disability Discrimination Act.
Proposed Solutions
Thirty-one per cent of submissions contended that action is required to ensure greater protection of rights, including a comprehensive legislative and policy review of Commonwealth and state and territory legislation and policies to remove conflicts with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. One submission noted that the Canadian Supreme Court had developed an analytical tool to test whether laws, policies, programs and standards unlawfully discriminated against people with disabilities. A number of submissions strongly argued that the powers of the Human Rights Commissioner should be extended to investigate cases without the need for an individual complainant, or that advocacy groups should have the right to bring cases on behalf of a group of individuals.
Other suggestions included:
- creating a complaints authority and compliance certification
- providing free legal representation to people with disabilities
- increasing the number of, and funding for, advocacy services for people with disabilities in urban, regional and rural areas, and greater promotion of these services
- enlisting advocates as intermediaries to ensure person-centred processes and models are effective and include measurement of appropriate outcomes
- providing leadership training and capacity building for people with disabilities.