The headlines said it all. Back to work: Disability support pension on the scrapheap, screamed Melbourne’s Herald Sun. Beating the bludgers will help the disabled was the lead on The Sunday Telegraph…
The European Union is debating the legality of sacking an employee on the grounds that their excess weight prevented them from doing their job – a case that has surely been approaching for years. The Danish…
The much-criticised healthcare contractor Atos will no longer administer work capability assessments for disabled and sick people, the government has announced. A new provider will take over the contract…
Australia’s record for employing people with a disability is disappointing and has been going backwards in recent years. In this country a little over half – 53% – of working-age disabled people are employed…
This week, Back to Back Theatre’s 2012 production Ganesh versus the Third Reich will open at Sydney’s Carriageworks. The show has toured the world, winning awards and laudatory reviews in Montreal, Paris…
When bushfires start, no one should be more worried than people with disabilities. Recent research shows people with disabilities are twice as likely to die or be injured than the general population during…
The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) presents an overwhelming opportunity to revolutionise the care and support given to Indigenous people. But the equity of the scheme is already at risk, with…
I was shocked when the local preschool teacher asked me when my son was coming to preschool… I had no idea he was even permitted to attend the local preschool. Those are not the words of a mother during…
People with disabilities suffer higher rates of sexual assault than are seen in the broader community. They also suffer barriers to reporting which mean the available figures are likely to significantly…
Disabled people are severely marginalised and among the poorest in developing countries. Having a disability increases the risk of poverty, and being poor also increases the risk of getting a disability…
More than one in ten middle-aged people has difficulty following speech in noisy environments, according to an analysis of 165,000 people in the UK Biobank, a project following the health of half a million…
Since the 1940s our welfare state has been built around the assumption that it’s possible to distinguish between people who are “sick” and people who are merely “frail” or “disabled”. While we consider…
Australians have a poor track record of talking about death and dying. A recent survey of Australians who’d just lost a loved one to a terminal illness found just 15% were told how their relative wanted…
The fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM-5) has copped the predicted criticisms since its release on the weekend. Most centre on the idea that more of us will…
Legend has it that before the introduction of Medibank (now Medicare) in 1974, then-prime minister Gough Whitlam convinced the premiers at a Commonwealth-states meeting to introduce a national disability…
With the legislation now through both houses of parliament, The National Disability Insurance Scheme, or DisabilityCare, is law, and will quickly become a defining feature of Australia’s social policy…
While an income tax increase may be hard to sell to some people in the community in the lead-up to a federal election, it’s the right choice for a sustainable National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS…
What do newborn babies, children who have been severely deprived of human contact, people with autism, and blind mothers have in common? On the surface, not much. But they provide a common theme for understanding…
Professor of Social Inclusion - UTS Business School - Centres for Business and Social innovation, and Business Intelligence and Data Analytics, University of Technology Sydney
Associate Professor, Rehabilitation, Ageing and Independent Living Research Centre and Occupational Therapy Department, School of Primary and Allied Healthcare, Monash University