The guidelines set out in the National Disability Strategy Discussion Paper were deliberately broad, which allowed a wide range of ideas, issues and solutions to be raised and discussed. Despite the considerable number of submissions and large number of participants at community consultations, there was striking consistency in the issues raised. Fifteen main issues were identified and grouped under six headings.
The following summary reflects the experiences and ideas of those who were able or who chose to provide a submission or attend consultations. There may be other individuals, groups or bodies that did not respond and who may have other ideas or experiences. The ordering of issues does not reflect their relative importance, or the weight each will be assigned in the National Disability Strategy. It is simply an effective means of summarising the content of submissions.
More than 750 submissions were received in response to the release of the discussion paper. More than half the submissions were from individuals, with others coming from organisations (31 per cent), peak bodies (6 per cent), local governments (4 per cent), state and territory governments (3 per cent), the Australian Government, and individual members of parliament.
Many submissions did not identify a specific impairment. Of those that did, the most commonly reported were:
- intellectual disability (9 per cent)
- physical disability (9 per cent)
- mental illness (7 per cent)
- deafness/hearing impairment (6 per cent)
- blindness/vision impairment (6 per cent).