From Vision Australia. This is talking vision. And now here's your host, Sam Colley.
Hello, everyone. It's great to be here with you. And for the next half hour, we talk matters of blindness and low vision.
We just keep moving forward as a community and we keep doing what we're doing. And this report just gives us more evidence to push back on the things that we've had to tolerate and put up with for far too long in our lives. So I think that there's a lot of things that are going to change moving forward.
Welcome to the program. Last week was a momentous occasion in the rights for people with disability in Australia. As the Disability Royal Commission handed down its final report to the Australian Government to ensure a just and equitable society for people with disability. I had a chat with the President of Persons with Disability Australia, Nicole Lee, all about the findings from the Commission and you'll hear from her
very shortly. So make sure to stick around. Then later on in the program, Stella Glory catches up with Rebecca Kent to chat about a new series of sessions. The Vision Australia Library is running to help parents practise self care and live their best lives. I hope you enjoy this week's episode of Talking Vision. On the 29th of September 2023, the final report of the Disability Royal Commission
was delivered to the Australian Government. In this report, the Royal Commission recommended how to improve laws, policies, structures and practices to ensure a more inclusive and just society and to have a chat with me all about the findings from the Disability Royal Commission. It's my great pleasure to welcome President of People with Disabilities Australia, Nicole Lee. Nicole, thank you very much for your time today. Welcome to Talking Vision.
Thanks for having me on.
Now firstly, Nicole, just to get our listeners up to speed, could you give us a bit of an overview of the Disability Royal Commission?
Yeah, sure. So the Disability Royal Commission was established back in 2019, so it's been going for four and a half years roughly where they've held public hearings, including through lots of Covid lockdowns. So they had to pivot to doing a lot of things online. They've had private hearings and issued lots of papers. So I think there's 7944 submissions that they received, 17,824 phone inquiries, 14 issue papers published, 70 responses to issue papers, and 1785 private sessions were
held in that four and a half years. So it's quite a substantial piece of work that they've undertaken over the last four and a half years. And so that's resulted in the report that was handed down last Friday, the 29th of September that contained 222 recommendations. And it was roughly was it 13 volumes, I think, from memory. So quite a big report, you could say.
Absolutely. And I think it's worth touching on those 222 recommendations. And, you know, what were the sort of key findings and outcomes with those recommendations that have emerged from the commission that you'd really like to let people know about and to highlight?
Well, some of the really big wins in there, which really are ultimately the low hanging fruit, I guess, in regards to disability rights, is to establish a human rights framework and a Disability Discrimination Act and disability rights framework within Australia. So that isn't something we ultimately, in my opinion, needed a Royal Commission to work out that that was something we needed to do. But irrespective of that, we've got recommendations around that. And the other one was around,
you know, abolishing forced sterilization of women and girls with disability. Again, that is not something that should have taken a royal commission to come out with that recommendation. And that is something that's been advocated for for many, many, many years. So, you know, we have to see it as a win to actually get it into this report. And hopefully that that recommendation definitely does get actioned on as soon as possible with limited time. I guess it's not something we
need a long plan of action for. They are. They do right now. Easy. There should be no arguments in regards to kind of recommendations. There was the talk around the segregated education, which unfortunately there was a divide amongst the commissioners and there seems to be a fair amount of debate within the community around what is segregated education and that, you know, some commissioners didn't want it. Some
people in the community don't want it. But ultimately, you know, the disability community does want to see an end to segregation. We do want to see integrated and full inclusion within the whole of society. Unfortunately, the timeline around you abolishing segregated education is 28 years, so it's kicking the can down the road, so to speak. You know, we need to be making. Yeah, it's a long it's a it's an unambitious, very unambitious 28 years. I mean, who can
think that far ahead. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. And and it also leads to another several lots of generations of children being segregated. You know, we've got to look at that as being a basic human right, not segregating children based on difference. You know, we wouldn't do this for any
other cohort. Why should we do this for disability? You know, and if we want to look at the drivers of violence against disability, segregation is that big driver of violence against us and we want to shift community attitudes towards people with disability. Well, we're not going to do that if we're not visible in the world around us. So if we're telling children as young as five or under
that those kids are different. So therefore they learn over there in that classroom or in that school over there and not in the same classroom as you. And we're telling disabled children that you're different and you don't belong. Well, we're setting in stone already at a young age, the fear of disabled people, discrimination of disabled people and reinforcing those stigmas of difference of disabled people rather than seeing us as just kids alongside other kids playing in the playground.
So that's a really important piece that we we want to see worked on. But the 28 year mark is far too long. That needs to be a much more ambitious timeline for that one. And the other sort of bits and pieces around segregated housing. Everybody should have the right to choose where they live, who they live with and how they live their lives and the environment in which they live in. So abolishing group homes is really,
really vital now, just like anybody else leaving home. Some people want to go and live in a share house, but they get a choice in who they live in that share house with. It's the same for disabled people. Some disabled people might want to live with others and
share an environment and share a home. But having choice and control over who is in that environment, who lives with you is the vital piece here that needs to be worked on that hopefully that that is something that will be prioritized with the government task force that's been announced that they're looking to set up. Unfortunately, we don't have a lot of details around what they mean by
that government task force so far. On the surface value, it has been very much a committing to government departments with advice from the disability community. You know, we don't want to be advising from the outside into a task force that's looking at implementing the royal commission. We want broad representation in the room alongside government on how we're
implementing this royal commission and its recommendations. So that task force is a vital piece of the puzzle here so that we're in the room, we're with the decision makers and we are overseeing, well, what do we mean? How do we define segregation on our terms and not what other people define as segregation for us? And that's been a bit of a debate around education and what other people assume or classify as segregation, which isn't necessarily the same as what how we conceptualize segregation.
I also understand, and I believe you would have been speaking to quite a few organizations and individuals over the past week following on from the publication of the final report. So what have been the feelings there from your side of things, but also from those who you've spoken to in the sector over the past week?
I think one of the things that's really I shouldn't
be surprised, but I'm kind of shocked at that. I've seen coming out and from other people in the sector is the fact that we don't have a section on women and girls with disability, considering we experience much higher rates of violence and neglect and abuse than other cohorts in the community, including, you know, quite high rates of sexual violence, We have the lowest rates of education, inclusion and we have the lowest employment rates out of the
entire community. Yet there was no discussion in the Royal Commission around bringing up that gender equity piece. So that's kind of disappointing. If I can put that sort of side around gender and gender based violence into perspective. Victoria had a Royal Commission into Family Violence that handed down a report in 2016. Now, considering that this is just a royal commission into violence, gender based violence in one state, so one area of our lives, it came out with
227 recommendations. Ten of those were dedicated to people with disability. Now, it's disappointing to see that women and girls and gender diverse people are only mentioned across four recommendations for the Disability Royal Commission, which is meant to be investigating violence that spans the course of our lifetime. So from birth to the day we die. So it's disappointing to see that that hasn't come through and this is where we need that representation in the room with that task force
because that conversation needs to be had. Well, yet we want to end violence against all people with disability, but we also want to bring up the equity of women and girls with disability who are experiencing higher rates of violence and sexual violence than other areas of the disability community. And what can we do around prevention and safeguarding for
women and girls with disability? So that was one of the big reflections that I've seen come out of the community, noting that, you know, gender based violence is something that I sunk my teeth into when I came into activism as a family violence survivor. So it's something that is very core and personal to me. And it's also the hearing in which I gave my own personal evidence to as well around the experience of violence against women with disabilities,
including my own experience. So that's an area that is lacking, that needs to have some uplift in regards to it. And I guess it's good that we're looking at how do we reduce restricted practice, how do we move away from using seclusion and restraints against people with disability? But I don't feel that it quite goes far enough. We don't want to be using language around reducing restrictive practices. We want to be using language around abolishing restrictive practice.
We want to be looking at pathways with dedicated time frames around, well, how do we end the use of restrictive practice, seclusion and restraint? How do we do that in all environments in which our lives are situated, including group homes, schools, health and mental health settings across the board and in the justice setting as well, so that all areas are safe for us to engage with because
at the moment they're currently not. And unfortunately it feels like there's just different language being put to services justifying their use of these practices which do already exist. And
they will. Tinue to justify the use of it unless we actually give clear boundaries around No, we don't want to be reducing, we want to be abolishing and you need to be looking at and addressing the environment in which people are existing in or engaging with services in that lead to an escalation of distress that then leads to the use of restrictive practice. So that's again why we need to be in the room. We need to
be defining what that looks like. We need to be putting the language to that and we need to be setting some clear boundaries around what do we actually mean by, you know, abolishing these things and how do we go about doing it, and what are the steps that need
to be taken? And the language used to draw a line very clearly in the sand that there's not going to be any excuses moving forward, that these measures have to be taken and just, you know, putting other words around how to justify the continuation of these forms of practices need to be stamped out.
And if people want to get in touch with Pueda and talk to somebody about their experiences or their feelings about the final report and the outcomes from the royal commission, what's the best way for people to get in touch with you?
I guess via our email channels, which can be found on our website to make contact with the organisation or if you need support with individualised advocacy on different issues.
But the other one, like if you just want to sort of discuss struggling with what the report contains or a lot of emotions that are sitting with this report is that Blue Knot are still offering counselling moving forward for people and there are really good service that support people with complex trauma and they were involved in the
commission and supporting people who are giving evidence. So, you know, there's always blue not to go to to discuss what you're going through or just even debriefing on how you feel about the report. But I guess always, you know, sort of reach out to via email with your thoughts.
We will be putting together possibly some surveys moving forward to ask people some questions around what are their priorities, what do they feel needs to be actioned on quicker over others so we can get a sense from the community around what it is they want us to be
advocating for as a priority above other things. So that is something that will be coming out further down the track once we've had a bit more of a chance to really, you know, go over all of the report and its recommendations and put something together to engage with the community, to get their feelings and thoughts on the commission. And where do we move to first?
Mark Colvin I've been speaking today with Nicole Lee, president of People with Disabilities Australia, about the recently published final report from the Disability Royal Commission. Nicole, thank you very much for your time today. It's great to have a chat with you and we very greatly anticipate the findings from the Royal Commission and hopefully better outcomes for people with disability.
Thanks for having me on today. And yeah, look, we just keep moving forward as a community and we keep doing what we're doing and this report just gives us more evidence to push back on the things that we've had to tolerate and put up with for far too long in our lives. So I think there's a lot of things that are going to change moving forward.
I'm Sam Kiley, and you're listening to Talking Vision on Vision Australia radio associated stations of RPI and the Community Radio Network. I hope you enjoyed that conversation there with Nicole Lee from People with Disability Australia, all about the recent final report from the Disability Royal Commission. And now here's Stella Glory with Rebecca Kent.
Thank you, Sam. Vision Australia Library is currently hosting a series around Parenting Stronger Foundations Parent and Carer series. It's running through the month of October on Tuesday evenings online. The first two sessions have already taken place, but there are two more coming up and there are spaces available in each one. And to have a chat with me about this, I'm speaking with child and family counsellor here at Vision Australia. Rebecca Kent, Thanks for your time today.
Rebecca Thanks for having me, Stella.
So the big question is what does the child and family counsellor do, and especially one that works here at Vision Australia?
I was trying to think about how to explain this simply, and I guess I'll give you some examples. I work with children and families really from birth up until they're young adults. For a young child, it might be around
play skills for transition to school. As they get older, we might be looking at what devices they use at school to access print and how they're going to talk about those devices with their peers and maybe even with the adults around them so that they're getting their needs met as we go through really figuring out their interests, helping them to identify their strengths, looking at what the future is going to look like, which might be really practical,
helping them to build resumes and practice interview skills for their dream job. And then along the way, through all of that, we're looking at building their practical and emotional coping skills to get through any barriers or difficulties that might come up.
And are they specific needs and wants, like obviously in a practical sense for children who are blind or have low vision compared to other children who may not be?
Well, that's an interesting and complex question that can so often depend on what the nature of the child's vision impairment is, what ability they've had to pick up skills along the way with their sighted peers. Sometimes there's not a huge difference. Sometimes they're getting along, doing the things that all their peers are doing quite easily, quite happily. Other times, the vision impairment can pose some barriers and difficulties.
But really what the work is there is just to help them to pick up the extra skills or strategies to help get them over the line.
And one of the skills and strategies is the Stronger Foundations Parent and Carer series. Can you give us an overview of the series?
Absolutely. I guess I wanted to start though, by acknowledging the library and the work that they've done to put this series together, and I guess I'm learning more and more in my professional and personal life that libraries aren't just about books, although I do love Oh yes.
I was going to say, let's let's put a, you know, like caveat around that. Books are fantastic.
And that is usually what draws me in. But then I've really discovered they're such a vital community hub, both physical libraries and online libraries like ours. And through their various funding sources, they create really innovative opportunities to connect their members with information, resources and support. So when they came to us with this idea of putting on a series of webinars for parents, it was just such a great opportunity and they've got such great skills in connecting people.
It was amazing to work with them. So it started off with them coming to the children and young people team asking What do parents want to know about? And we did some brainstorming to come up with what our topics are. As you mentioned, we've had a couple of speakers already, Dr. Justin Coulson and Layla Stone, who both have a really strong interest in building resilience in children and in families because both of those sides are so important.
So they've been able to speak to us about the kinds of day to day strategies that you can use to help your child to thrive, to help them to develop self-confidence, to help them to be their own best self advocate. And then we hope through the next couple of sessions to continue building that theme of resilience. In our next session, we're going to be speaking with the CEO of Siblings Australia and she's going to be speaking to us about, you know, working with the siblings of
children with disabilities. They have their own unique experience in a family of what it means to be resilient and to experience hardship. So she's going to talk to us about how to enhance family relationships and to really embrace the importance of supporting siblings in particular. So that is
session three. And then in session for myself and my colleagues, Vicki and Julie, we'll be talking self-care for parents because obviously the leaders in the family and we want them to have really great skills to look after themselves so they can be in the best position to support their family. The. People who are closest to them.
What is self-care and what does it look like?
Again, you asked such great questions, Stella, because the first thing is, what is it? I think there can sometimes be a feeling that self-care is selfish or that it takes a long time, or that it takes you away from the things in your life that matter or that your family. But really, self-care is about finding some time to prioritize yourself, and it doesn't need to be in big ways. It can be in really little ways as well. And so we're going to talk about really some practical
ways to build self-care into your everyday life. I'm hoping it's going to be a fun session because we're really just going to have a chat, the three of us, about the different domains of self-care and the different areas in your life where you can bring in some self-care and share our personal reflections as well as the stories
of our clients and what's worked for them. So we're hoping in that session you'll be able to identify when you come along the things that you might already be doing, and sometimes naming something self-care can just give it a little bit of a polish. Make sure you appreciate the
moments that you do have. Again, don't want to give away too much, but one of the ones I share is I love to take a cup of coffee around with me while I'm doing the shopping and that just being able to name that self-care, right?
It's got a lid on it, of course, because I just had an image of you walking around with a mug in your hand. I thought, How did you do that? No.
They have trolleys with the cup holders, right? So if I can tell myself that that is a moment that I'm taking for me something special that I'm doing for me, it stops it just being something I take for granted and becomes a self-care routine for me. And so that's what we first want to do, is to recognize the things you might already be doing and just name them and appreciate them for what they are. But then we also want to look at opportunities to grow that area
of your life where you're looking after yourself. And it might mean bringing in some really little things like that. Or maybe you identify that you do need some bigger things in your life, some focus, something that you appreciate and value outside of the day to day, outside of the things that you regularly do. So it's pretty individual and we hope to give you lots of food for thought so that parents coming along can identify what matters to them.
Why would a parent and I'm particularly thinking about mothers here, but I don't want to be too biased. Why is it important? What what how does it benefit the parent and the parenting and the family to take a moment for self-care?
Now, it was Julie who said it best, so I'm going to let you know this is from her. She made the comment that through good self-care, the people you care about will get the best of you, not just what's left of you. And that really resonated with me as a mother myself, that it can be very easy to go through the motions of the day and get frustrated at times and feel like you're spent and really at those times, are our family getting the best of
us and are we enjoying our family life? So by taking those moments out to spend some time on yourself, to feel good about who you are, what you're doing, and what your purpose is in life, you can be reinvigorated going back into family life, whether it's just hanging out with the kids while they do their homework or getting dinner ready, bringing some vitality back into family life. I think that starts with looking after yourself. So you've got space to enjoy. The other thing.
Now, why do parents need this type of advice or recommendation? You know, are they not doing a good enough job as it is, you know, or or or like there would be a generation of parents that were told like, shouldn't parenting be intuitive?
Oh, my.
Goodness. Yes, we should we should do everything well. We should be balanced. We should have it all. Um, you're absolutely right, Stella. Why would we need help with this? Well, I can only speak for myself that say, as I do get frustrated sometimes I do sometimes find, like, I'm in the grind. I think it's good to get a polish. I think it's good to take a moment and ask
yourself some questions. Am I enjoying my family life? Do I feel like I have things that invigorate me and help me get through the bad times if it's just to come along and see if be able to jot down the things you're doing? Well, absolutely. Come join us. But then there might be times where you might feel like he's struggling. Well, then hopefully we'll be able to give you some ideas to feel like you're getting back on track.
So it's definitely not about telling. Parents had a parent.
Not at all, Stella But think it's good to call that out. We definitely and that's kind of where go back to it being individualized is across the all four sessions really. It's about sharing ideas. It's about us giving you the best of what we've got from the research, from our experiences and the experiences of families we work with to get you asking yourself some questions and figuring out what works for you.
So these sessions are called Stronger Foundations Parent and Carer series. They're currently taking place throughout the month of October. Session number two Navigate. Big feelings. I feel like that could be an adult one too, like all these big feelings that we get. But that's for the kids, obviously. So the next two, as you said, one Tuesday, October 17th, and then Tuesday, October 24th, 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. So the kids should be in bed by then Australian
Eastern Daylight Time online. For more information, you can contact the Vision Australia Library or head to our website Vision australia.org. That's Vision australia.org. And I've been speaking to Rebecca Kent who is child and family counsellor here at Vision Australia. Thanks so much for your time today.
Rebecca Thanks very much, Stella.
And that's all we have time for today. You've been listening to Talking Vision. Talking Vision is a production of Vision Australia Radio. Thanks to all involved with putting the show together. And remember, we love your feedback and comments, so please do get in touch on Talking vision at Vision australia.org. That's talking vision all one word at Vision australia.org. But until next week it's Sam Colley saying bye for now.
You can contact Vision Australia by phoning us anytime during business hours on one 308 4746. That's one 308 4746 or by visiting Vision australia.org that's Vision australia.org.