Including people with disability at every stage of the consultation
Planning
A well planned consultation can enable people with disability to participate with minimum expense and time. For example, a consultation with long lead times and information available in accessible formats will enable the majority of people with disability to participate.
Lead times
Let people know far enough ahead so that they can prepare well thought out responses. Appropriate lead times are an important factor in enabling people with disability to more fully participate in a consultation process because:
- many peak bodies represent large groups of people with disability and need adequate time to consult with their constituents; and
- the nature of some disability may reduce the capacity for people to respond quickly.
You should agree on a time frame which allows sufficient lead time for comments to be obtained, to locate and recruit participants and arrange any necessary support requirements such as attendant, respite or child care during the planning stages of any consultation process. As with any consultation process, it will be necessary to ensure that all participants are aware of the finalisation date.
Financial and time implications
Many people with disability receive the Disability Support Pension as their only income. The costs associated with travel to participate in a consultation process may be prohibitive.
To ensure that cost does not deter participation you may need to consider:
- reimbursement of taxi or public transport fares;
- the use of a 1800 or free call number;
- visiting the person in their home;
- providing attendant care or support services during the consultation; and
- providing child care.
You should consider paying members of the community for participating in focus groups. Where the specific expertise of a person is required or when a person is appointed by a Minister to sit on a reference or steering committee, a sitting fee is usually paid.
When organising consultations, be aware that some people with disability require more time to carry out everyday tasks such as getting ready in the morning, travelling, eating meals and undertaking personal hygiene tasks.
Similarly many people with disability rely on carers, usually family members, who also then require time to get themselves ready. Personal care services usually work from a roster that may make early starts and late finishes impossible. These factors should be considered when planning starting and finishing times.
Carers often have limited time to attend meetings or any activity not related to their caring duties. To ensure that a carer is not deterred from participating in a consultation, consider:
- enabling the carer to remain in their home, including using home visits and telephone surveys;
- providing child care services;
- providing an alternative care service, including child care; and
- providing reimbursement for a care service.
Sampling
It is important to ensure that sampling reflects the diversity of the disability community. Therefore, it must take into account those people who live in rural or remote areas, those people from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds, including Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander backgrounds, different disability types and both males and females.
Some issues may be relevant only to one disability group and therefore it may be important to focus on people with a particular disability. For example, the captioning of television programs is very significant for people who are deaf or hearing impaired.
In some cases it may be appropriate to organise consultation with specific disability groups. This has the advantages of:
- reducing disharmony in the consultation process when the needs and issues of concern to people with a particular disability may conflict with the needs of those with a different disability;
- ensuring that people whose disability is most visible do not assume greater importance than the needs of those with unseen and less apparent disability; and
- meeting disability specific needs in an efficient and effective manner, for example, it is cheaper to have an Auslan interpreter attend one meeting of people who are deaf than have the interpreter present at all public meetings.
Using existing data and information
Consultations are sometimes criticised for asking the same questions as a previous consultation from which no outcome was ever apparent to those who participated. It is important that previous results from consultations, and other relevant information, are analysed and incorporated into any consultation process.
This will increase the credibility of the consultation process, gives people the message that they were previously heard and encourage the stimulation of new ideas.
Background research about people with disability, including their patronage of a service and/or their needs will also be useful when planning the consultation.
Unfortunately people with disability are often under-represented or not represented at all in data collection processes. This can create the perception that people with disability are not interested in having access to mainstream services or programs. In reality, it may mean that the service was not accessible to people with disability.
The 2003 Survey on Disability, Ageing and Carers is a useful source of information about the disability population. Survey results are available from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Consultation Management
Most consultation processes involve steering committees or reference groups. In line with the Commonwealth Disability Strategy, people with disability should be invited to participate. This is particularly the case if the issue specifically affects people with disability. See the list of contacts for a range of organisations you may be interested in contacting.
Steering committees or reference groups overseeing a consultation that is not specific to people with disability can also benefit by including a representative from the disability community who may be able to provide direction and advice on how to ensure that the consultation includes people with disability.
Choosing a consultant
Much formal consultation undertaken by government is now contracted out.
Any consultant contracted to undertake a consultation process should be aware of the specific needs of people with disability and the importance of ensuring that they are included in the process.
As not all consultants have experience working with people with disability, consideration should be given to alternative arrangements. For example, employing a facilitator with expertise in this area, or a facilitator with a disability, or the use of a reference group may ensure that disability issues are adequately considered.
If the consultation specifically targets people with disability it is vital that the consultant has credibility with the disability community and is knowledgeable about the issues.
The credibility of a consultant will be increased if the person:
- has a disability;
- is a carer of a person with disability;
- is a known advocate for people with disability;
- is experienced in consulting people with disability; and/or
- has been selected by a panel which includes representatives of the disability community.
Contracting a person with a disability to facilitate a meeting can be a very effective way of consulting the disability sector.
The Australian Federation of Disability Organisations (AFDO) has compiled a list of people who may be able to facilitate meetings.
The ability of the consultant to facilitate conversation with people from different cultural backgrounds, including those from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds such as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander backgrounds, should also be considered.
Advertising
People with disability need to know that the consultation is happening. People with a vision or hearing impairment may not know that the government intends to consult about a particular issue. In addition to advertising in the mainstream media, some advertising avenues to consider are:
- Radio for the Print Handicapped;
- disability specific media such as newsletters published by disability peak bodies;
- media, including radio, television and press produced by culturally and linguistically diverse groups; and
- community television and radio.
Consideration should be given to including in advertising a TTY and/or Email contact so that people who are hearing or speech impaired can register their interest and/or ask further questions.
Terms of reference
Consultations are frequently criticised for not meeting community needs and expectations. Clear terms of reference that describe the scope of the process will reduce the likelihood of dissatisfaction and unrealistic expectations.
People with disability may be involved in the planning stage of the consultation to ensure that the terms of reference are appropriate and that the consultants have a clear understanding of the consultation process. This is particularly important if the issue is of direct concern to people with disability.
The terms of reference should particularly address:
- the reasons for and/or objectives of the consultation;
- the methods to be used;
- the scope of the consultation;
- time lines;
- expected outcomes;
- whether the results will be available to participants; and
- how the results will be available to participants.
Venues
Under the Commonwealth Disability Strategy, all buildings used by the Commonwealth, including those leased or hired, must have full access for people with disability. The Strategy states that all parts of Australian Standard 1428 should be adhered to. The Standard can be obtained from Standards Australia.
Particular access issues to consider:
- Are the building and the meeting areas accessible to people with mobility difficulties?
- Is entry through the front door?
- Does the building have clear signage set at appropriate heights?
- Is the building close to public transport and does it have clearly defined 'drop off' and 'pick up' points?
- Are the toilets and bathrooms on the same floor as meeting areas and are they accessible?
- Does the building have assistive listening systems, such as hearing loops?
- Is the building free of features such as flickering lights that may trigger attacks of particular illnesses for instance, Meniere's Disease, or epilepsy?
Other factors to identify whether a building is accessible for people with disability are in Appendix B.
Accessible information
All written information integral to the consultation process, such as discussion papers, should be available upon request in accessible formats to ensure equal access to the information for people with disability.
Access
Reliance on printed text can effectively exclude people with a print handicap from accessing this information. Producing information onto electronic disks, onto the Internet, in large print, audio and Braille formats will go some way towards meeting the information needs of these people. Many people who are blind or have a vision impairment now have access to computers which translate electronic information into ASCII format on disk, to voice, into Braille or large print.
People with an intellectual disability may also have difficulty understanding complex documents. Provision may need to be made to translate documents into easy English including the use of pictures to assist people with an intellectual disability to participate in the consultation process.
Easy English and large print formats also benefit many people who may not have a disability. Easy English will benefit those people who do not have a lot of time to read information or have limited English skills, and large print will benefit those people whose vision is impaired.
Information in accessible formats, including audio, disk, and languages other than English, should also be considered. Often easy English versions are easier and less costly to translate.
How many copies?
If the issue is going to directly affect people with disability, then it may be appropriate to produce the information in accessible formats as part of your general document production
If the information is for a smaller targeted audience and is not directly relevant to disability issues, then advertising the availability of the information in accessible formats on request may be sufficient.
The disability peak bodies may be able to assist in deciding how much information is needed in accessible formats. The National Ethnic Disability Alliance may be able to provide information on producing information in languages other than English.
Receiving information
Provision should be made for information, such as submissions, to be received in accessible formats, such as on disk or on audio tape.
Access to Email and/or a TTY phone or utilisation of the Australian Communication Exchange's National Relay Service will increase the ability of people with speech and hearing impairment to both contact the consultant and submit material. Provision of toll free numbers will assist participation, particularly for those people living in rural and remote areas.
Feedback
Feedback about the consultation is vital to the people who contributed to the consultation process. Feedback policies should be clearly stated, planned and included in the methodology of the consultation. People need to know that their views have been heard and what will be done with their ideas. While feedback does not need to be provided on each individual comment, it must respond to the broad issues and full range of expressed views.
To ensure that people with disability receive adequate feedback, ask participants to indicate their preferred format for receiving this information.
Collecting & recording information
The consultation process provides an opportunity to collect information about the needs of people with disability that can be utilised in future consultation processes and evaluations.
When collecting data about people with disability, it is important to ensure that it is not an intrusive process. The requirements of the Privacy Act 1988 need to be met in all data collection exercises.
It is important to include people with disability in decisions about data collection processes and in decisions resulting from the interpretation of data. People with disability may be able to provide insights into the interpretation of the information.
Evaluation
Evaluation of consultations may be useful to record the process and outcomes, provide an information base for future use, ensure that mistakes are not repeated, and that successes are built upon
Important aspects to include in an evaluation are whether:
- objectives of the consultation were met;
- people with disability participated, and if not, why not;
- people with disability from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds, including people from an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander background were adequately represented;
- there was a gender mix;
- carers and service providers were included as appropriate;
- people with disability considered that their needs were adequately met; and
- people with disability feel that they were listened to.