SHUT OUT: The Experience of People with Disabilities and their Families in Australia 

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
Foreword
Preface

1. Executive summary
   
2. Summary and analysis of submissions and consultations—the experience of people with disabilities and their families, friends and carers
• 2.1 Overview
• 2.2 'Excluded and ignored' - the experience of exclusion and discrimination
• 2.3 ‘Broke and broken’—the struggles of the service system
• 2.4 ‘Can’t get a job’—the employment experience of people with disabilities
• 2.5 ‘Can’t get there, can’t get in, can’t get it’—negotiating the built environment
• 2.6 ‘The wasted years’—the education experience of people with disabilities
• 2.7 ‘Isolated and alone’—the social experience of disability
• 2.8 The experience of disadvantaged groups
3. Conclusion—implications for the development of the National Disability Strategy

Appendices

Disclaimer

The Commonwealth of Australia accepts no responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of any material contained in this report. Additionally, the Commonwealth disclaims all liability to any person in respect of anything, and the consequences of anything, done or omitted to be done by any such person in reliance, whether wholly or partially, upon any information contained in this report.

Any views and recommendations of third parties contained in this report do not necessarily reflect the views of the Commonwealth, or indicate a commitment to a particular course of action.

The analysis presented in this report reflects the submissions received by the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA) in response to the National Disability Strategy consultation process.

All direct quotes in this report are excerpts from submissions and material obtained during the consultation process. It is, however, important to note that neither FaHCSIA nor the National People with Disabilities and Carer Council was able to verify the accuracy of the submissions or consultation comments. Nor should the analysis be read as representative of all Australians with disabilities, because participants and respondents were self-selected. FaHCSIA made every effort to obtain permission to publish all direct quotes. The submissions contain the ideas and thoughts of those who chose, or who were able, to provide a submission, and there may be other individuals, groups or government bodies that did not respond but may have other ideas or experiences.

The guidelines for submissions as set out in the consultation discussion paper were broad, which permitted discussion of a wide range of ideas, issues and solutions. But the absence of an issue or idea in a submission does not indicate that the issue is not important to the submitter, only that they did not choose to write about it.

This report should not be read in isolation, nor will it be the only source of data to inform the development of the National Disability Strategy. Rather, the report is a useful way of bringing together the voices of those people with disabilities, their families, friends and carers and the organisations that support them who provided submissions and participated in consultations. By identifying and discussing the issues in this way, new ideas and solutions may be discovered. This information, in conjunction with other evidence and data, will inform the development of the National Disability Strategy.

© Commonwealth of Australia [2009}

This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced by any process without prior written permission from the Commonwealth available from the Commonwealth Copyright Administration, Attorney-General’s Department. Requests and inquiries concerning reproduction and rights should be addressed to the Commonwealth Copyright Administration, Attorney-General’s, Robert Garran Offi ces, National Circuit, Canberra ACT 2600 or posted at http://www.ag.gov.au/cca

ISBN: 978-1-921380-54-9