New rules offer the possibility of an inclusive Australian society that enables people with the highest disability-related support needs to have equal access to mainstream services including housing.
Disabled campaigners take to the streets of London to demand rights in 1995.
David Giles/PA Archive/PA Images
What’s holding disabled athletes back from getting more involved in fighting inequality?
The financial safety net for South African children is better than in most countries. But other vulnerabilities aren’t taken care of adequately.
Reuters
The lack of service integration and the paucity of welfare services make poor people’s task of caring for their familes much harder. A small monthly cash transfer can’t solve all their challenges.
Testing new ways to navigate a complicated world.
ETH Zurich/Alessandro Della Bella
Robert Riener, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich
People with disabilities are often disappointed with their devices’ performance, and choose not to use them. To encourage innovation, a new competition tests assistive technologies.
Is there an ongoing ambivalence toward people living with disabilities?
James Emery
Today’s violence and prejudice against people with disabilities goes back to the practice of institutionalization, which started in Europe and the United States a century ago.
The achievements of the Paralympians, and societal shift towards more inclusivity and the celebration of diversity, has had a dramatic effect on the lives of people living with disability.
Children with albinism are often teased and bullied by their peers.
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies/Flickr
Children with albinism are teased and physically bullied by classmates who don’t understand their condition. They withdraw from learning – and many ultimately leave school early.
In addition to a shortage of public toilets, current innovations in their design may not be suitable for an ageing population.
AAP/City of Sydney
Millions of people need to be confident that suitable public toilets will be available when they leave their homes. A shortage of such facilities is a serious problem for an ageing population.
Emilia Clark and Sam Claflin in Me Before You.
Alex Bailey
British rom-com Me Before You has topped the box office in the UK and is about to reach Australia. It has all the clichés of feel-good romance (including a castle), but it has also been labelled a ‘disability snuff movie’.
Living in supported smart technology homes is liberating for young people with disability who would otherwise be trapped in unsuitable nursing homes.
Fred Kroh/Summer Foundation
Thousands of young people with disability who end up in nursing homes lead lives of isolation and boredom. Better and smarter housing finance and support options are at last being developed.
One balloting machine for all voters: universal design is accessible for everyone, with or without disabilities.
University of Florida
In 2012, nearly one-third of voters with a disability had trouble voting. A 2002 law was supposed to fix this problem. New technology may have the answer at last.
Sarah Kanake and her brother Charlie.
Author supplied.
Characters with Down syndrome are extremely rare in novels and rarer still are stories written from their point of view. But people with disabilities have an equal right to belong in narrative fiction.
Associate Professor, Rehabilitation, Ageing and Independent Living Research Centre and Occupational Therapy Department, School of Primary and Allied Healthcare, Monash University
Andrew Banks Family Preeminence Endowed Chair, Associate Chair of Research Computer & Information Science & Engineering Department, University of Florida