Action for More Independence & Dignity in Accommodation AMIDIA_logo.jpg 1st Floor, Ross House, 247 Flinders Lane, Melbourne Vic 3000 Phone: 9650 2722 Fax: 9654 8575 Email: amida@amida.org.au Website: www.amida.org.au Inc No: A001608SV ABN: 32 993 870 380 Advocacy, Self Advocacy, Rights, Accessibility, & Community Living for People with a Disability 28 Mar 19 The Department of Social Services Via email - DisabilityRoyalCommission@dss.gov.au Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with a Disability - Consultation on Terms of Reference. AMIDA is an independent advocacy organisation which advocates for good housing for people with disability. We provide advocacy to individuals, with priority given to people with an intellectual disability, and advocate for change in systems which prevent people from achieving good housing. AMIDA strongly supports the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with a Disability and works to assert these rights and community inclusion for people with a disability. During the Royal Commission into Institutional responses to child sexual abuse, funding was provided to one advocacy organisation, PWDA, to support people with disability and promote people in making submissions however the funding quickly ran out and did not sufficiently support people through what was a traumatic experience. 1. Funding should be supplied to all advocacy organisations to promote and support people to participate in the Disability Royal Commission 2. This funding should also include de-briefing support from appropriate professionals experienced in PTSD before, during and after making a submission about abuse where requested. 3. The funding for support should be available to people with disabilities and family members that have been affected by abuse. 4. Promotion is important because people with a disability might otherwise be unaware of the Royal Commission. Promotion needs to be directed to people where they are, such as in their local communities. Rural and remote as well as metropolitan regions. An outreach component should also be in place to reach people who may not already connected to groups. This covers people who have no access to advocacy or self-advocacy groups. For example AMIDA’s perspective is to provide housing advocacy to people in residential services who are very isolated and often do not have any connection to advocacy services and these are potentially people who have or are undergoing abuse. It will not be in the service providers’ best interest to give information about the Royal Commission to clients. 5. Self-advocacy groups will need additional support. 6. Promotion needs to be in all formats – video, face to face, plain English version, Auslan, braille, screen reader versions, large print and different languages, to be made as accessible as possible. 7. The Royal Commission should be tasked with a number of possible responses including recognition of positive examples of good inclusive practice which is community base and non abusive. We should not be returning to locking people with disabilities away. 8. People with a disability have a right to live in the community with a degree of risk and not be overprotected and therefore segregated. 9. In the Royal Commission into institutional response to child sexual abuse it was within the terms of reference that the commission examined possible redress. This should also be included in the Disability Royal Commission. Kind regards, C:\Users\AMIDA laptop 3\Desktop\BT-Sig.jpg Bronwyn Trickett Advocate AMIDA Action for More Independence and Dignity in Accommodation 1st Floor Ross House 247 Flinders Lane Melbourne 3000 www.amida.org.au Email: bronwyn@amida.org.au Ph: 9650 2722