NSW Disability Inclusion Plan Update 2017...Inclusion Action Plans and will report on the progress of implementation in 2018. • The Live Work Play – NSW the State of Inclusion

NSW Disability Inclusion Plan Update 2017 1

NSW Disability Inclusion Plan Update 2017 A report on the implementation of the NSW Disability Inclusion Plan and Disability Inclusion Action Planning across NSW Government Clusters and Local Councils

NSW Department of Family and Community Services Inclusion and Early Intervention Directorate Commissioning Branch

October 2017 (v16/11)


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Executive summary ............................................................................................................ 5

Disability Inclusion Act 2014 .............................................................................................. 7

Disability Inclusion Plan 2014-2018 .................................................................................... 8

1. POSITIVE ATTITUDES & BEHAVIOURS ........................................................................ 10

1.1 Raising disability awareness across the community ............................................ 10 1.1.1 Don’t DIS my ABILITY ....................................................................................................................... 10 1.1.2 See the Possibilities - Disability employment marketing campaign ................................................ 10 1.1.3 Employable Me ................................................................................................................................ 10

1.2 Upholding the rights of people with disability: A training package ...................... 11

2. LIVEABLE COMMUNITIES........................................................................................... 12

2.1 Liveable Communities Grants ............................................................................. 12 2.1.1 Ongoing commitment to four rounds of funding for $4 million ..................................................... 12 2.1.2 Lift & Change Facilities Trial & accessible toilets data expansion project ....................................... 13

2.2 Coordinated planning for access and inclusion ................................................... 13 2.2.1 Development of Disability Inclusion Action Planning guidelines .................................................... 13 2.2.2 Live Work Play: NSW the State of Inclusion conference ................................................................. 13

2.3 Cross-sector local partnerships in key areas ........................................................ 15 2.3.1 Sport NSW, NSW Business Chamber, Clubs NSW & Settlement Services International ................. 15 2.3.2 Inclusive Tourism ............................................................................................................................. 18 2.3.3 Disability and Justice Interface ........................................................................................................ 19

3. MEANINGFUL EMPLOYMENT .................................................................................... 20

3.1 NSW Agencies Planning Workforce Diversity ...................................................... 20 3.1.1 Disability Inclusion Employment Actions ........................................................................................ 20 3.1.2 Disability Employment Advisory Committee ................................................................................... 20

3.2 Cross Sector Disability Employment Forum ......................................................... 20 3.2.1 Employment Enablement Strategy .................................................................................................. 20 3.2.2 Employment forums and community engagement ........................................................................ 21 3.2.3 Jobs for the Future: Adding 1 million rewarding jobs in NSW by 2036 ........................................... 21 3.2.4 Transition to Work ........................................................................................................................... 21

3.3 Disability Employment Networks ....................................................................... 22 3.3.1 Jobs for NSW public sector .............................................................................................................. 22

4. ACCESSIBLE SERVICES & SYSTEMS .............................................................................. 23

4.1 Accessibility Working Group ............................................................................... 23

4.2 Disability Inclusion Action Plans ......................................................................... 24 4.2.1 NSW Government Disability Inclusion Action Planning................................................................... 24 4.2.2 Local Government Disability Inclusion Action Planning .................................................................. 24

5. Governance .............................................................................................................. 26

5.1 Disability Inclusion Plan Implementation Committee .......................................... 26

5.2 Results logic and implementation outcomes assessment .................................... 26


Disability Inclusion Action Planning Highlights ................................................................. 28

Department of Education ............................................................................................. 28 Professional Learning for Educators ............................................................................................................. 28 Supporting Students ..................................................................................................................................... 28 Personalised Learning and Support Signposting Tool .................................................................................. 29 NDIS opportunities ....................................................................................................................................... 29

The Department of Family and Community Services ..................................................... 30 Core Standards for Practitioners .................................................................................................................. 30 Measures to improve social and emotional wellbeing ................................................................................. 30

The Department of Family and Community Services & NSW Public Service Commission 31 Disability Employment Advisory Committee ................................................................................................ 31

Department of Finance, Services and Innovation – Fair Trading NSW ............................ 32 Consumer Awareness and Protection .......................................................................................................... 32

NSW Health ................................................................................................................. 32 Responding to Needs of People with Disability During Hospitalisation ....................................................... 32 NSW Health Disability Inclusion Action Plan 2016-2019 .............................................................................. 33 Online training courses ................................................................................................................................. 33

Department of Industry ................................................................................................ 33 Resources for hiring managers ..................................................................................................................... 33 Internal disability employee group ............................................................................................................... 34

Department of Justice .................................................................................................. 34 Disability Justice Project ............................................................................................................................... 34 New Disability Justice Strategy ..................................................................................................................... 34

Department of Planning and Environment .................................................................... 35 Initiatives to reducing barriers ..................................................................................................................... 35 Online accessibility ....................................................................................................................................... 35

Department of Premier and Cabinet ............................................................................. 35 Accessible event planning ............................................................................................................................ 35

Transport for NSW ....................................................................................................... 35 Accessible Transport Initiatives .................................................................................................................... 35

The Treasury ................................................................................................................ 36 Implementation of Disability Inclusion Action Plan ...................................................................................... 36

Appendix 1: NSW Disability Inclusion Plan Implementation Committee ............................ 36

Membership ................................................................................................................ 36

Meeting Dates.............................................................................................................. 37

Appendix 2: Evaluation and Reporting Schedule .............................................................. 38

Appendix 3: Disability Inclusion Result Logic .................................................................... 39 Links and resources ...................................................................................................................................... 40 Contact us ..................................................................................................................................................... 40


Executive summary The NSW Disability Inclusion Act 2014 required the NSW Government to develop a Disability Inclusion Plan outlining the actions it would undertake to support inclusion of people with disability and their access to mainstream services.

The areas of focus for the NSW Disability Inclusion Plan are:

• developing positive community attitudes and behaviours • increasing meaningful employment opportunities • creating liveable communities • improving access to mainstream services through better systems and processes.

Significant progress and achievements have been made in the first two years. Key achievements include:

• All 10 NSW Government Departments and 128 NSW local councils have Disability Inclusion Action Plans in place and are implementing actions.

• Community partnerships established with Sport NSW, NSW Business Chamber, Clubs NSW, Settlement Services International and Local Government NSW targeting a potential audience of over 4 million club members, sports participants, business owners and community members to promote inclusion across the community and encourage employment and participation of people with disability.

• The NSW Disability Inclusion Plan Implementation Committee, with representation from all government clusters, Local Government NSW and disability and community organisations, continued to guide the implementation of the Disability Inclusion Plan and action plans.

• The Department of Family and Community Services has developed a comprehensive results logic framework to inform monitoring and reporting on the outcomes for people with disability arising from the Disability Plan and Disability Inclusion Action Plans and will report on the progress of implementation in 2018.

• The Live Work Play – NSW the State of Inclusion conference held at International Convention Centre Sydney in May 2017 fostered community engagement and mobilisation with over 600 delegates, 70 speakers and trade and arts display.

Building on these achievements, key priorities and projects have been identified for 2017/18 as:

• continuing developing and delivering successful public campaigns to improve disability confidence and increase inclusive practices across the community. Campaigns to be delivered in 2017/18 include the See the Possibilities disability employment campaign and the Employable Me documentary series

• improving employment opportunities for people with disability has been identified as an overarching priority for 2017/18.

• innovative project development in inclusive tourism, accessible information and communication technology and disability rights awareness training to highlight the opportunities that inclusion presents for the whole community.


The success of the Disability Inclusion program of activity is based on an ongoing commitment of NSW Government agencies to:

• model inclusive practice and demonstrate leadership and innovation across government

• engage with and respond to the 1.4 million people with disability in NSW • work with all levels of government, community and business partners to promote

inclusion • recognise that inclusion is everybody’s responsibility and use the influence of

government to inclusion across the community • support the effective roll-out of the NDIS across NSW.

NSW is leading the way – it is becoming the State of Inclusion and its programs are being emulated in jurisdictions across Australia.


Disability Inclusion Act 2014 1.4 million people live with disability in NSW1.

The Disability Inclusion Act 2014 (the Act) was adopted in NSW after extensive consultation with the disability community and citizens.

The Act promotes the accessibility of mainstream services and facilities, community inclusion and the provision of funding supports and safeguards for people with disability during the implementation period of the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

This report meets the statutory requirements of parts 1 to 3 the Act. The Act gives statutory effect to the human rights based principles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability. The central principle being that:

“… people with disability have the same human rights as other members of the community and that the state and the community have a responsibility to facilitate the exercise of those rights.”

Disability Inclusion Act 2014 – Section 3(a)

The Act also recognises the NSW Government’s commitment to the National Disability Strategy 2010-2020.

The Act requires the NSW Government to develop a State Disability Inclusion Plan outlining the key actions that the NSW Government will undertake to support inclusion of people with disability and their access to mainstream services. It also highlights specific population groups with disability that require additional consideration or who may experience other disadvantage including children, women people from culturally diverse backgrounds and Aboriginal people.

The Act also requires all NSW Government clusters and NSW local councils to develop Disability Inclusion Action Plans in consultation with people with disability.

Public authorities must report on the progress of Disability Inclusion Action Plan implementation in their annual reports and the Minister is to table a report about the implementation of disability inclusion action plans in each House of Parliament as soon as practicable after the end of each financial year.

The NSW Disability Inclusion Plan will be reviewed by the end of 2018.

1 Australian Bureau of Statistics – Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers, 2015.


Disability Inclusion Plan 2014-2018 The Disability Inclusion Plan was launched in February 2015. It is a purposeful framework for growing access and inclusion for people with disability across government, business and the community. The Department of Family and Community Services leads the implementation of the Plan in collaboration with NSW government clusters, local councils, and disability and community organisations.

The following four priority themes were developed after extensive consultation:

1. Developing positive community attitudes and behaviours 2. Creating liveable communities 3. Supporting access to meaningful employment 4. Improving access to mainstream services through better systems and

processes.

The NSW Disability Inclusion Plan was designed to be an ongoing and dynamic document responsive to emerging issues and changing priorities. The ten priority projects included in the initial plan have all been commenced, revised and in some cases completed and additional projects have been added. (See Table 1) Their status is reflected in the following implementation summary.


Table 1 Summary of NSW Disability Inclusion Plan actions and current initiatives

NSW Disability Inclusion Plan – Actions

Implementation initiatives

1. Developing positive attitudes and behaviours 1.1 Public Awareness campaign on

Disability Inclusion 1.1.1 Don’t DIS my ABILITY - 14th Year 1.1.2 See the Possibilities - Employer awareness

campaign 1.1.3 Employable Me - Television documentary

1.2 Human Rights learning and development resource

Upholding the Rights of People with Disability – A training package - Public sector training

2. Creating liveable communities 2.1 Liveable communities grants 2.1.1 Liveable communities grants rounds and

community seed funding 2.1.2 Lift and Change trial supporting 10 facilities

and funded community initiatives in NSW 2.2 Coordinated planning for access

and inclusion 2.2.1 Development of Disability Inclusion Action

Planning Guidelines and regional workshops 2.2.2 Live Work Play Conference – 600 delegates

2.3 Cross-sector local partnerships in key areas

2.3.1 Sport NSW, NSW Business Chamber, Clubs NSW & Settlement Services International

2.3.2 Inclusive tourism consultations and workplan 2.3.3 Working with Justice NSW to support people

with disability in contact with the criminal justice system

3 Supporting access to meaningful employment 3.1 NSW Government Agencies

planning for workforce diversity 3.1.1 Disability Inclusion Action Plans with over

100 disability employment targeted actions 3.1.2 Establishing the Disability Employment

Advisory Group 3.2 Cross sector disability

employment forum 3.2.1 Forums for government, disability and

community sectors to support innovative employment growth

3.2.2 Disability employment included as a priority in Jobs for the Future : Adding 1 Million rewarding jobs in NSW

3.2.3 Transition to Work 3.2.4 Employment Enablement Strategy

3.3 Disability employee networks 3.3.1 Supporting Disability Employment Networks to support pubic sector job growth

3.3.2 Transition to work for 4,100 school leavers 4 Improving Systems and processes 4.1 Accessibility working group Disability Accessibility Advisory Group and

digital citizenship 4.2 Implementation of Disability

Inclusion Action Plans 4.2.1 All NSW government clusters with Disability

Inclusion Action Plans 4.2.2 All 128 Local Council have Disability

Inclusion Action Plans 5 Governance & Reporting 5.1 Disability Inclusion Plan

Implementation Committee Representatives of government, community groups and the disability sector provide oversight of plan implementation

5.2 Implementation Outcomes Assessment

The established results logic will guide the assessment of impacts of the Disability Inclusion Planning

Initiatives listed are detailed in identified section (*)


1. POSITIVE ATTITUDES & BEHAVIOURS 1.1 Raising disability awareness across the community

Aim: To build community awareness of the rights and abilities of people with disability, and to support the development of positive attitudes and behaviours towards people with disability.

1.1.1 Don’t DIS my ABILITY

The Don’t DIS my ABILITY campaign has been an important part of the NSW annual celebration of the International Day of People with Disability and acted as a vehicle to promote inclusion in NSW for the past 14 years.

The 2016 Don’t DIS my ABILITY Campaign I Can, I Am featured people with disability who have overcome barriers to gain meaningful jobs and challenged the public to re-evaluate their attitudes around the employment of people with disability. The campaign was viewed by over 1.3 million people.

To complement the Don’t DIS my ABILITY campaign in 2016 the Department of Family and Community Services supported the Access All Areas film festival in December 2016, promoting a range of films featuring disability issues to more than 11,000 participants who viewed screenings in community settings and in schools.

1.1.2 See the Possibilities - Disability employment marketing campaign

It is recognised that the greatest barriers to employment for people with disability are the negative attitudes of potential employers. These attitudes can be shifted by presenting the positive case for employment of those with disability, highlighting their potential and the diverse perspective that they can bring to the workplace.

See the Possibilities is a peer to peer disability awareness campaign developed by The Department of Family and Community Services which encourages employers to commit to employing more people with disability. The See the Possibilities campaign tells the story of employers who have seized the opportunity to empower employees with disability and given them the chance to shine.

1.1.3 Employable Me

This documentary series, funded in partnership with Family and Community Services, the ABC and Screen Australia and produced jointly by the ABC and Northern Pictures, will follow people with neuro-diverse conditions such as Autism, Asperger’s and Tourette Syndrome as they look for employment. With the help of experts, the uplifting and insightful series will draw on science to highlight the skills of each job seeker and match them to jobs than can build on their strengths.

The Minister for Disability Services announced the production of the documentary Employable Me in June 2017.


The documentary series will complement the other marketing and employment activities and contribute to building positive community attitudes on employment for people with disability.

1.2 Upholding the rights of people with disability: A training package

In partnership with the Australian Human Rights Commission the Upholding the Rights of People with Disability – A training package was developed in May 2016 for staff across the NSW public sector.

The training raises awareness of human rights through practical examples of how to promote inclusion, increase accessibility, and reduce discrimination. Importantly the training is lead by a person with lived experience of disability. The training targets policy, project and human resource staff and promotes the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The training has been delivered to over 160 participants and has had positive reviews.

Disability Council NSW stand at the Live Work Play – NSW the state of inclusion Conference

ICC Sydney May 2017


2. LIVEABLE COMMUNITIES Aim: To increase participation of people with disability in all aspects of community life, through targeted approaches to addressing barriers in housing, learning, transport, health and well being.

Building liveable communities is about creating and environment in which all people in the community feel free and safe to move around in, where they can live, work and play and enjoy the opportunities society has to offer.

2.1 Liveable Communities Grants

2.1.1 Ongoing commitment to four rounds of funding for $4 million

The NSW Government made a commitment to support the Liveable Communities Grants program for $4 million over 4 years.

The first round of Liveable Communities grants in 2015 provided over $1.8 million to 24 organisations across a range of projects promoting inclusion. A further $1 million was allocated to successful 2016 projects and these began in April 2017.

The Department of Family and Community Services has supported additional projects that pilot novel approaches to inclusion. Examples of funded projects include:

• An inclusion project led by the National Parks Association of NSW improved access to natural areas by providing accessibility information about NSW bushwalking tracks.

• LEEP develops digital citizenship and access to information and operates a lab which has provided more than 300 hours of one on one support to more than 30 people with disability to connect them to the digital world.

• The Sargood Foundation has created accessible paths of travel from the Sargood Centre to the beach community resources at Collaroy.

• Surf Lifesaving NSW is developing the capacity of volunteers to engage and assist people with disability to access their community.

• Young Change Agents are providing an opportunity for young people with disability to develop and present innovative solutions to overcome barriers in society.

• The Remarkable Accelerator is encouraging business and community groups to develop innovative approaches to overcome barriers to inclusion for people with disability.

• Anglers with Disability are being supported with $200,000 for projects to make it easier for anglers with disability to access prime fishing spots in NSW.

• Golfers with Disability are enjoying support to participate in inclusive skills development sessions throughout 2017/2018. The program will culminate with Golf NSW staging the State Medal event in conjunction with the NSW Open Golf Championship emphasising sporting opportunities for people with disability.


The Liveable Communities Grants and project funding is further supported by the annual Community Builders Partnership grants that provide support for small infrastructure projects.

2.1.2 Lift & Change Facilities Trial & accessible toilets data expansion project

Since 2015 the Department of Family and Community Services has been working with Spinal Cord Injuries Australia to add information on over 1000 additional accessible facilities to the National Public Toilet Map at www.toiletmap.gov.au.

In 2016 the Department of Family and Community Services Lift and Change Facilities Trial provided funding to establish ten accessible facilities that include a ceiling hoist, a height adjustable change table and accessible toilet. The project is in collaboration with Local Government NSW and local councils. Locations completed or under construction include South Grafton, Macquarie Fields, Collaroy Beach, Blue Mountains, Kiama, Mollymook, Orange, Gundagai, Newcastle and Taree.

The improvement of public toilet information is an ongoing initiative and further funding is being provided to build lift and change facilities in new and existing public toilets.

2.2 Coordinated planning for access and inclusion

2.2.1 Development of Disability Inclusion Action Planning guidelines

To maximise the impact of the NSW Disability Inclusion Plan priority areas the Department of Family and Community Services developed Disability Inclusion Planning Guidelines for NSW Government Departments and local councils.

Implementation of the guidelines was supported through a series of workshops for Departments and two major local government planning forums held in 2015 and 2016. The implementation of these plans is described in section 4 of this report.

2.2.2 Live Work Play: NSW the State of Inclusion conference

The Live Work and Play: NSW the State of Inclusion conference was held in May 2017 at the International Convention Centre, Sydney.

This unique two-day event brought together over 600 people with disability, disability inclusion policy leaders, practitioners and community stakeholders and all levels of

http://www.toiletmap.gov.au/


government to experience the 70 local and international presenters, and 30 tradeshow exhibitors and to showcase the progress NSW has made in implementing the NSW Disability Inclusion Plan.

The program included keynote and plenary sessions focusing on the conference themes of employment, accessible tourism, building liveable communities and accessible technology. There were focused workshops targeting disability inclusion across multicultural settings, across the NSW public sector and in the Arts.

A highlight of the conference was the launch of the See the Possibilities disability employment campaign by the Minister for Disability Services.

The conference also showcased the International Convention Centre as a venue that is inclusive and welcoming to those with disability.

The conference outcomes echoed the message that New South Wales is striving to be the State of Inclusion. The conference highlighted the progress that had been made in the NSW Disability Inclusion Plan and showcased examples of best practice and innovation both in Australia and abroad across the four conference themes. Some of the many examples included:

• The work of Specialisterne in developing employment opportunities across diverse industries for people on the Autism Spectrum and individuals with neuro-diverse disability.

• A featured workshop for public sector employees discussed challenges and opportunities to support employment outcomes for people with disability within the NSW public sector. Outcomes of this workshop informed the development of practical approaches to support increased employment opportunity across the NSW public sector such as modifications to advertising and recruitment and workplace adjustment. It also recommended the development of a NSW Public Sector disability employment network to share ideas, resources and leading practice across government.

• Evidence was presented on the enormous potential market of inclusive tourism and the potential for regional businesses, councils and sporting groups to leverage this to develop liveable local communities and grow employment opportunities for those with disability. A future action will bring together tourism and recreational industry and disability sector influencers and decision makers.

• Assistive technology was recognised as an enabler of inclusion. Capturing and delivering data using accessible and assistive technologies can empower digital citizenship, meaning people with disability to have greater choice and control. Local Government NSW will work with the University of Technology Sydney and the Australian Tourism Data Warehouse to consolidate local tourism data collection into a standard that can better inform consumers with disability.

• Keeping it local was recognised as an priority to be supported through consultation with the local disability community and by collaboration with local government, business chambers, clubs and community groups in the development of liveable communities.


2.3 Cross-sector local partnerships in key areas

2.3.1 Sport NSW, NSW Business Chamber, Clubs NSW & Settlement Services International

Building links in the community and business sectors continues to be an important focus. In late 2015, The Department of Family and Community Services partnered with the Business Chamber of NSW, Clubs NSW and Sport NSW to promote disability inclusion in each organisation and among their members and businesses.

Each organisation made use of their extensive state-wide networks and at times partnered with each other and local government to develop targeted community driven solutions to disability inclusion planning.

Sport NSW

Sport NSW is the peak sporting industry body in NSW, representing 90 organisations and over 3 million participants and 670,200 adult volunteers in the capacity of coaches, officials and administrators.

Sport NSW works closely with government, community groups and national sporting bodies and has a strong history of sector representation and support. Some of the disability inclusion work that Sport NSW has undertaken included:

• Working with multiple sporting organisations to integrate sport participation across specialist disability and mainstream sports and provide advice on disability inclusion. This has resulted in direct increases in the number of inclusive sport programs available targeted at young people with disability.

• Creating the Active Inclusion school program to introduced children to sport at an early age and the Premier Inclusion League, a multi-disability touch football competition for young people.

• Undertaking a range of consultation and promotional activities including: holding six inclusive sports workshops representing 30 different sports; a disability inclusion recruitment forum with 20 sporting and industry groups; webinars on diversity and inclusion engaging over 140 participants.

• Working with local councils and clubs to support the integration of inclusive sport and recreation into their Disability Inclusion Action Planning.

• Setting up school sport development days to raise disability awareness in sport and working closely with the Department of Education to build capacity to assist teachers to help run activ participation programs.

• Sport NSW has also been an important partner for Ability Links NSW by supporting Ability Linkers and Information, Linkages and Capacity Building component of the National Disability Insurance Scheme.


• Hosting the Sport NSW Awards which recognised great achievements in sport by people with disability as individuals and in teams and highlighted disability in sports.

Clubs NSW

Clubs NSW represents 1,200 clubs across NSW with over 42,000 employees, and 44,000 volunteers and over 6.7 million members.

Clubs NSW purpose is to lead a sustainable industry that makes a growing contribution to the NSW community seeks to strengthen conditions for those working within the industry, and to support the local communities they serve.

The NSW Club Industry own and operate hundreds of sports fields, golf courses and other facilities for recreation, dining and entertainment. Clubs NSW has improved disability inclusion within NSW clubs by:

• Creating the Clubs NSW industry Best Practice Guide for disability inclusion endorsed by the CEO of Clubs NSW that has been adopted for use by clubs across the state.

• Working with the Australian Network on Disability to create a best practice employment and inclusion guide, and promoting the Disability Confident Recruiter model. Clubs NSW subsequently worked with four disability employment service providers to assist clubs to employ people with disability in their organisations.

• Changing Liquor and Gaming Guidelines for ClubGrants funding to include grants to build facilities for people with disability.

• Producing a 6 minute Club News Television story on disability inclusion featuring an interview with the Minister for Disability Services which reached over 3,000 people.

• Producing and promoted over 28 newsworthy media stories highlighting disability inclusion best practice.

• Instigating the inaugural Clubs and Community disability category at the Clubs NSW awards. In 2016, the Premier presented awards across two categories to the winners selected from 19 finalists.

• Educating and raising disability awareness of the leaders of the NSW Clubs Industry with 897 senior staff members and club directors engaging in 14 disability inclusion awareness sessions across 13 regions.

The Clubs & Community Awards in October 2016 and 2017 were a remarkable success in recognising the many achievements of clubs throughout the state and highlighting that collaboration is the key to supporting those with a disability & achieving social inclusion.

NSW Business Chamber


The NSW Business Chamber is a membership organisation that is connected to a network of over 20,000 businesses across NSW. It has a staff of over 600 located across 50 offices in NSW and linking to 160 local Chambers.

NSW Business Chamber provides advice and resources to small and large businesses to support compliance, improve employee relations, reduce employee absenteeism, build effective workplace relations and workplace, health and safety.

The NSW Business Chamber has addressed enquiries from over 900 individual business owners about disability inclusion and has worked with the NSW Department of Industry and the Small Business Commission to engage with over 85,000 micro businesses. The NSW Business Chamber engaged with a very large section of the business community through:

• conducting six webinars with over 100 participants in each and multiple workshops engaging over 150 businesses on disability inclusion

• publishing six articles in industry magazines and newsletters reaching 70,000 subscribers and shared across social media platforms

• consulting with over 2,000 attendees through networking events and provided over 25 local councils expert advice on how to engage businesses and developers to support their Disability Inclusion Action Plans

• creating and distributing free resources to assist businesses in improving access and inclusion in their business, inclusive employment practices. This includes the Missed Business Guide and six other Disability Tip Sheets to help businesses get started to improve disability inclusion and awareness.

The NSW Business Chamber is supporting the promotion of the See the Possibilities disability employment campaign and the development of inclusive tourism options. The impact of the NSW Business Chamber’s engagement with the sector on inclusion was recognised in the review conducted by the Australian Human Rights Commission on the disability workforce2.

Settlement Services International

Settlement Services International is a community-based not-for-profit organisation involved in the areas of refugee settlement, migrant support services, housing, disability support, employment services and youth support in NSW. SSI is the state-wide umbrella organisation for 11 Migrant Resource Centres and Multicultural Services across NSW. SSI Disability Linkers NSW gave support to 4,543 people with disability, 2Willing to Work - National Inquiry into Employment Discrimination Against Older Australians and Australians with Disability, Australian Human Rights Commission; 2016


63 per cent of whom identified as being from diverse cultural backgrounds.

In September 2016 the Department of Family and Community Services partnered with Settlement Services International to extend their disability inclusion focus beyond specialist disability services to support the adoption of inclusive practices across multicultural groups state-wide.

Since then Settlement Services International has partnered with 22 migrant resource centres to develop working partnerships across major cultural groups. This has enabled Settlement Services International to develop relationships and a thorough understanding of multicultural disability issues to inform future capacity building. With this understanding Settlement Services International is developing a training package to deliver to partner organisations to raise disability awareness.

2.3.2 Inclusive Tourism

The Inclusive Tourism project aims to promote social inclusion and capitalise on the social benefits and economic opportunities associated with inclusive and accessible tourism. The NSW Government engaged a range of stakeholders with the aim of identifying ideas and actions to better enable people with a disability to access tourism and recreational experiences.

We consulted with stakeholders across disability, ageing, tourism, hospitality, information technology, marketing and government sectors were consulted in three workshops, in Parliament House, Nowra and Orange to explore the business case for accessible tourism and how to stimulate local activity. More than 100 people were engaged through the workshops representing over 60 organisations from a range of sectors and locations.

The inclusive and accessible tourism theme was further explored in the Live Work Play NSW: the State of Inclusion conference in May 2017.

A number of actions have been identified which Government and its community partners can undertake to improve access to tourism and recreational experiences for people with disability, their families and carers. Central to this is effective engagement with stakeholders across all sectors.

Ten priority projects were identified:

1. Develop a state-wide strategic accessible tourism plan. 2. Expand information and awareness of accessible experiences through

established digital information platforms. 3. Develop and promote the business case and economic opportunities

associated with accessible tourism. 4. Collect data to evaluate the NSW and Australian accessible tourism context. 5. Promote NSW as the State of Inclusion. 6. Establish a gallery of information on leading practice on how to make

businesses and services more accessible.


7. Enable access and inclusion in sports and develop capacity to host accessible events particularly in regional NSW.

8. Make volunteer tourism in regional and remote areas more accessible. 9. Ensure essential services are available i.e. accessible toilets and adult change

places. 10. Assess and intervene where market failure is occurring in the accessible

tourism market.

The Department of Family and Community Services will identify collaborative partners across government and the sector with which to explore the potential for these projects.

2.3.3 Disability and Justice Interface

The Department of Family and Community Services is working in partnership with the NSW Department of Justice on projects to provide information to individuals with disability which come into contact with the Justices System. Underpinning active citizenship is awareness, understanding, and exercising of rights.

The NSW Department of Justice lead project will promote widespread awareness of legal rights for people with disability. The project objectives centre on:

• supporting people with disability to understand and be able to exercise their rights, and how these apply to their circumstances

• increasing awareness amongst staff, service providers, families and friends regarding the rights of the person they support.

The project is underway and when finalised in 2018 will include a website hosted by the Department of Justice with resources and learning opportunities, and face to face training sessions.


3. MEANINGFUL EMPLOYMENT Aim: To increase the number of people with disability in meaningful employment, thereby enabling people with disability to plan for their future and exercise choice and control as a result of economic security.

The NSW Government is committed to increasing meaningful employment opportunities for people with disability. Employment provides economic independence and social opportunity, self-esteem and confidence.

3.1 NSW Agencies Planning Workforce Diversity

3.1.1 Disability Inclusion Employment Actions

NSW Government Agencies identified over 100 separate actions to support the growth of more inclusive and diverse workplaces through their current Disability Inclusion Action Plans.

Actions underway across government include revision to advertising and recruitment practices, changes to workplace adjustment policies, and provision of training to Human Resource staff and hiring managers.

These actions link with the state wide training programs and whole of government initiatives being undertaken by the NSW Commission and the Department of Family and Community Services.

3.1.2 Disability Employment Advisory Committee

The Public Service Commission in partnership with The Department of Family and Community Services established the Disability Employment Advisory Committee in 2015 to advise ways to improve outcomes for employees and job seekers with disability in the NSW government sector.

Work driven by the Disability Employment Advisory Committee included action-based research to identify opportunities to improve the accessibility and inclusion of recruitment processes, as well as reinvigorating disability employee networks, promoting the contribution and value of people with disability in the sector and informing the questions for data collection which has resulted in a more accurate picture of the diversity and inclusion of the workforce.

3.2 Cross Sector Disability Employment Forum

3.2.1 Employment Enablement Strategy

The Employment Enablement Strategy introduced in 2014 allocated $6 million over three years to provide individual job readiness support and training for adults with disability, and to build the capacity of businesses to employ people with disability.

Over three years to 2016-17, the Strategy has allocated 275 Employment Enablement Packages for adults with disability across the state. Eight employers


increased their capacity to recruit and retain employees with disability. This includes reviewing recruitment and management policies and procedures to eliminate barriers to employment for people with disability.

The Strategy’s capacity building work with employers created a sustainable model and legacy in NSW that enables employment of people with disability as NSW transitions to the NDIS.

3.2.2 Employment forums and community engagement

The Department of Family and Community Services conducted an initial Disability Employment Forum in May 2015. This meeting brought together representatives of government, the community and disability sectors to identify the key areas for reform and the high priority objectives to initially address to support the growth of meaningful employment opportunities for people with disability across the state.

The recommendations from this forum provided the impetus to create the Disability Employment Advisory Committee, and the promotion of employment as a priority initiative beyond government.

Subsequently, employment for people with disability has become the key focus for public campaigns and disability planning. Employment was a major component of the Live Work Play Conference and the Department of Family and Community Services continues to work closely with our key community partnerships and local government to promote growth of employment opportunities for people with disability.

A public employment showcase is planned for 2018.

3.2.3 Jobs for the Future: Adding 1 million rewarding jobs in NSW by 2036

The Department of Family and Community Services is leading development of the disability employment component of Jobs for the Future: Adding 1 million rewarding jobs in NSW by 2036. Job creation for people with disability is a priority of this plan.

3.2.4 Transition to Work

Transition to Work is a two year program that helped young people with disability develop skills and qualifications to gain employment after leaving school.

The 2016 outcomes survey reported that the program has assisted more that 4,100 school leavers with disability into employment or further education since the program began in 2004. Expenditure on this program in 2016-17 was over $41 million.

The Department of Family and Community Services is participating in the Australian Network on Disability’s Stepping Into internship program for university students with disability. Seven interns completed the Winter 2016 and Summer 2017 programs and opportunities to place four interns into the Winter 2017 program are being explored. From this program, The Department of Family and Community Services employed three graduates with disability in early 2016.


3.3 Disability Employment Networks

Disability Employee Networks provide a valuable resource and point of reference for people with disability in the workplace.

The Disability Employment Advisory Committee Sub-group was formed in early 2016 to engage the perspective and lived experience of employees with disability in the NSW public sector to inform key design and accessibility measures aimed at improving the inclusion and participation of people with disability in the sector. Members have provided input on the design of the sector-wide 2016-17 Recruitment Pools, framing of employee survey questions, the Guidelines for Establishing Employee Networks (to be published in 2017) and disability awareness training.

3.3.1 Jobs for People with Disability a plan for the NSW Public Sector

The NSW public sector has low representation of people with disability as employees (2.8%). The Department of Family and Community Services is working with the Public Service Commission to develop a plan for increasing public sector employment which will deliver real and measurable growth of opportunities for people with disability.

The aim is that the NSW public service becomes the leader in generating employment outcomes for people with disability with innovative recruitment and professional development models and programs.

Inclusive Government Recruitment Pools

The 2016-17 NSW Public Sector Recruitment Pool was a bulk recruitment round based on current leading practice and informed by action based research with an adapted approach to target people with disability.

The accessibility of the Recruitment Pool process was promoted on social media and in advertising to encourage people with disability to apply. Candidate information sessions were also held to improve visibility of the application, assessment and selection process.

Promotion of the Recruitment Pool included disability targeted job boards (including Toozly and Enabled Employment) and direct posting through social media networks.

The final result was an improved application rate (over the previous year) for those who identified as people with disability. The data and lessons learnt arising from an evaluation of this process will inform improvements to recruitment processes in the future.


4. ACCESSIBLE SERVICES & SYSTEMS Aim: To ensure that people with disability are able to make informed choices about services and can easily and efficiently access mainstream government services and opportunities in the community.

4.1 Accessibility Working Group

In 2015, The Department of Family and Community Services formed the Accessibility Working Group to guide development of a set of practical resources to support NSW Government agencies to make their information processes and activities more accessible. The group met on four occasions and identified four areas for short term priority focus.

• Universal accessibility of systems and information • Accessing information for informed decision making • Procuring ICT systems that were accessible • Consultation with government to provide the perspective of those with disability

Universal accessibility was addressed through actions incorporated in NSW Government and local council Disability Inclusion Action Plans. Each cluster has incorporated actions to make their information and ICT systems more accessible and comply with accessibility standards.

The Department of Family and Community Services worked with a number of industry leaders such as Media Access Australia to develop and disseminate advice to agencies and local councils on accessibility of information. Resources have been collated on the Department of Family and Community Services web site and discussed in multiple conferences and workshops.

The Department of Family and Community Services worked with the Department of Finance and Services to develop a plan of action to incorporate accessibility features into the purchasing processes for future ICT systems across government.

The Department of Family and Community Services will continue to work with the Disability Council NSW and others to engage with the disability sector and capture feedback to inform the evaluation of the NSW Disability Inclusion Plan and Disability Inclusion Action Planning.

Digital Citizenship

The potential for people with disability to access digital and assistive technology to make an impact on their lives is enormous. Digital platforms are emerging as the preferred way of doing business with government, a great way to access information about services and facilities, a means of self managing care and of travelling virtually to any point on the planet.


The Digital Citizenship project will build on the work commenced by the Accessibility working group and explore the potential for digital and assistive technologies to impact positively on the lives of people with disability.

4.2 Disability Inclusion Action Plans

Each NSW Government cluster developed a Disability Inclusion Action Plan by 30 December 2015. NSW local councils developed and published their Disability Inclusion Action Plans by 1 July 2017 in close collaboration with people with disability and their community stakeholders.

This alignment of disability planning is unprecedented in Australia.

4.2.1 NSW Government Disability Inclusion Action Planning

The Department of Family and Community Services produced guidelines and conducted eight workshops to support agencies to develop effective and sustainable plans that were aligned with the four priority areas of focus of the State Disability Inclusion Plan.

In developing these plans clusters consulted with the disability community representing staff customers, service users and the general public. Each cluster had a different starting point for inclusion planning and the plans that have been developed outline the incremental steps that each is taking to move their organisation, their staff and the services they deliver towards being fully inclusive.

There is a high degree of commonality in the actions being taken across the clusters. This creates the opportunity to undertake systemic actions across all clusters to support approaches.

Clusters are required to report on the implementation of their Disability Inclusion Actions Plans in their annual reports and sections were included in their 2015-16 reports. Some highlighted actions have been included in section 7 of this report.

4.2.2 Local Government Disability Inclusion Action Planning

In 2013, The Department of Family and Community Services in collaboration with Local Government NSW, conducted a review of local government disability action planning. The review highlighted that the majority of local councils saw disability inclusion planning as a priority and were active in the area.

The inclusion of the requirement for all councils to develop disability inclusion action plans in the Disability Inclusion Act 2014 sought to encourage all councils to take an active role in this area. The extended timeframe aligned with the existing community planning cycle for local councils and ensured that disability inclusion planning would be incorporated in the general business cycle.

The Department of Family and Community Services and Local Government NSW jointly convened three local government planning forums attended by over 120


councils , developed guidelines and provided direct supports through regional forums and other specialist resources to support council planning.

As of July 1 2017 all 128 councils have completed their Disability Inclusion Action Plans.

The alignment of local government inclusion plans with the state and cluster plans is unique to NSW. This alignment strengthens actions being undertaken l across NSW government and ensures that practical actions are in place to support the NSW Disability Inclusion Plan areas of focus.


5. Governance 5.1 Disability Inclusion Plan Implementation Committee

The Disability Inclusion Plan Implementation Committee was convened by The Department of Family and Community Services in April 2015. This whole of government committee works with its community partners to strengthen collaboration and support the implementation of the principles of the Disability Inclusion Act 2014 and the NSW Disability Inclusion Plan.

The terms of reference include driving implementation of the NSW Disability Inclusion Plan, promoting human rights across government and general public and promoting cross government innovation by linking with existing networks and identifying opportunities for systemic actions to support Disability Inclusion Action Plan implementation and the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

Membership includes representation from all ten NSW Government Clusters, the Mental Health Commission, Public Service Commission and the Disability Council NSW. In addition the Minister for Disability has nominated representatives from Local Government NSW, Australian Network on Disability, NSW Council on Social Services, and the NSW Disability Network Forum with membership reviewed annually.

Major areas of work have been the overseeing of disability inclusion action planning across agencies and the development of a results logic and evaluation framework for the NSW Disability Inclusion Plan and Inclusion Action Plans.

Appendix 3 summarises membership and meeting dates for this group.

5.2 Results logic and implementation outcomes assessment

The Department of Family and Community Services commissioned the development of a results logic framework in 2016. In developing the framework consultations and interviews were undertaken with over 100 individuals including: people with disability, the Disability Council NSW, clusters, local government, and disability sector and community representatives.

The results logic identifies the relevant data types and sources to be used in the evaluation and reporting on implementation of the Disability Inclusion Plan. An evaluation will be commissioned in 2017 with interim and final reports produced prior to the end of the plan in 2018. A diagram summarising the evaluation and reporting schedule is in Appendix 1. A diagram summarising the results logic is included in Appendix 2.


Disability Council NSW review of Disability Inclusion Action Plans

The Disability Inclusion Act states that the Disability Council NSW will “advise the Minister about the content and implementation of the State Disability Inclusion Plan and disability inclusion action plans”.

The Disability Council NSW has reviewed the initial Disability Inclusion Action Plans of each of the clusters and provided advice to the Minister.

National Disability Strategy and NDIS Linkages

The Department of Family and Community Services has worked with the NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet to maintain engagement with the Commonwealth government and other jurisdictions on the implementation of the National Disability Strategy 2010-2020.


Disability Inclusion Action Planning Highlights Department of Education

Professional Learning for Educators

Through the ongoing reform initiative Every Student, Every School, the Department of Education continues to grow the number of principals and teachers across the state undertaking professional learning to improve their understanding of obligations under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and associated Disability Standards for Education 2005 and the skills and confidence of teachers in meeting the needs of students with disability.

Since their release in 2013 up to the end of 2016:

• more than 59,300 principals, teachers and support staff have undertaken 81,000 training courses on the Disability Standards for Education

• more than 20,000 teachers and support staff have undertaken accredited professional learning courses in key areas of student learning need, including: autism, behaviour, speech language and communication, motor coordination, dyslexia and significant reading difficulties and hearing loss since their progressive introduction from 2009 and a comprehensive new course on personalised learning and support that was released in 2015, and

• sponsorships continue to be available to teachers to undertake further tertiary study and gain a Masters qualification in special education.

Supporting Students

The NSW Department of Education has a continuing focus on strengthening support for students whose learning is impacted by disability in more than 2,200 NSW government schools. In 2015 and 2016, all NSW public schools participated in the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on Students with Disability, validating the provision of personalised learning and support for more than 100,000 students with disability in mainstream and special schools across the state. The data collection process draws on the professional practice of teachers and evidence of their work through the year in providing adjustments and support for students with disability in consultation with students, their parents and carers.

The Department of Education will continue to provide professional learning and support for school leaders and teachers about ways in which school practices and processes can be strengthened to support the identification of students with disability and provision of adjustments, informed by each year’s data collection.


Personalised Learning and Support Signposting Tool

In 2015, the new Personalised Learning and Support Signposting Tool (PLASST) was released to all NSW government schools. The PLASST is a unique, web-based tool developed by the Department to assist teachers in identifying areas where students with additional learning needs may benefit from personalised adjustments and support. The development of the tool was informed by extensive trials and validation with more than 24,000 students. Since its release, teachers have used the PLASST to profile the strengths and learning needs of more than 8,700 students, to inform their planning to meet students’ needs in consultation with parents and carers.

NDIS opportunities

The NDIS provides new opportunities for schools to collaborate with parents and other professionals in planning how personalised disability supports provided through the NDIS can align with personalising learning and support students’ success at school. The Department of Education is supporting the progressive roll out of the NDIS in NSW with professional development and support for school staff to understand the NDIS, its potential benefits for children and young people with disability and their families and its relationship to the work and responsibilities of schools. A range of new information and materials continue to be developed to support school communities and are available on the Department’s website.

In 2015 and 2016, the NSW Government and the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) supported assessment of Year 12 school leavers with disability and planning for the provision of specialist employment and community participation support through their transition to the NDIS. Work will continue with the NDIA in 2017 to further inform the development of NDIS planning and processes for the specialist disability support that will benefit young NDIS participants as they transition from school to employment.

In 2015 to further enhance the range of specialist services and programs already available in NSW government schools to support students and their families, 22 networked specialist centres across NSW were established. This brought together health and wellbeing services to assist schools in supporting students with complex needs, including those with disability of which 15 are located in regional, rural and remote locations. Centre facilitators establish and maintain relationships between agencies, and build a sustainable network of specialist support services for schools. They provide an access point for other agencies to connect with the Department of Education in regard to complex matters impacting students and their families.


The Department of Family and Community Services

Core Standards for Practitioners

The Department of Family and Community Services Core Standards Program has been designed by the Disability and Home Care's (ADHC) Clinical Innovation and Governance Unit to help practitioners in their everyday person centred work with individuals with disability. The term practitioner as used here, includes behaviour support staff, dieticians, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, psychologists and speech pathologists. The introduction of core standards aims to maintain a consistency across practitioners' work. The core standards are intended to form part of a practitioner's learning plan in discussion with their professional supervisor.

There are four Common Core Standards for practitioners working with people with a disability and their family and supports. These are: Professional Supervision, Working Alliance, Philosophies, Values and Beliefs and Service Delivery Approaches. There are also discipline-specific core standards for practitioners working with people with disability and their family and supports. It is suggested practitioners complete the common core standards and then choose from the discipline-specific core standards as relevant to their learning goals. The discipline-specific core standards are avaiable in the areas of physiotherapy, psychology, occupational therapy, speech pathology and behaviour support. These are freely available on the ADHC website. During February 2016 – April 2016, the practice leaders team held free workshops to over 600 attendees across 17 different sites in NSW. The attendees to these workshops were across allied non government organisations and government agencies withn the disability sector and included allied health practitioners,from non government organisations, private practice and those working within other government agercies and departments.

Measures to improve social and emotional wellbeing

The NSW Government produced a suite of resources and initiatives under the Accommodation Support Policy Framework. These included the Accommodation Support Register Guidelines, Accommodation Service Provider Guidelines and Resource Kit, ‘My Life’ and ‘Somewhere to Live’ booklets, Active Support videos and Active Support “Train the Trainer” training.

The aim of these resources is to assist people with disability, their families and friends, and support staff to prepare for how and where they want to live and to increase the effectiveness and efficiency with which services are provided in the lead up to and following transition to the NDIS.

Through the promulgation of the resources there has been an increase in awareness and capacity of the NGO sector to implement person centred practices such as Active Support . Active Support is an evidence based approach supporting involvement of people with disability in everyday activities, which leads to a more engaged life and a more fulfilled working life for staff.


The Active Support train-the-trainer initiative will deliver 120 training places by June 2017 increasing the capacity of the NGO sector to continue implementing this support practice into the future.

The Active Support videos have been widely viewed and used by the disability sector as good examples of disability support workers implementing Active Support. To date the videos have been viewed through the internet and social media over 11,000 times.

The Department of Family and Community Services & NSW Public Service Commission

Disability Employment Advisory Committee

The Public Service Commission in partnership with The Department of Family and Community Services established the Disability Employment Advisory Committee in 2015 to advise ways to improve outcomes for employees and job seekers with disability in the NSW government sector.

Some examples of the work driven by the DEAC include action-based research to identify opportunities to improve the accessibility and inclusion of recruitment processes, as well as reinvigorating disability employee networks, promoting the contribution and value of people with disability in the sector and informing the questions for data collection which has resulted in a more accurate picture of the diversity and inclusion of the workforce.

The DEAC Sub-group was formed in early 2016 in response to a need identified by the DEAC to use the perspective and lived experience of employees with disability in the NSW public sector to inform key design and accessibility measures aimed at improving the inclusion and participation of people with disability in the sector. Members have provided input on the design of the sector-wide 2016-17 Recruitment Pools (to be used as action-based research), framing of employee survey questions, the Guidelines for Establishing Employee Networks (to be published in 2017) and disability awareness training.

The Department of Family and Community Services is leading development of the disability employment plan Jobs for the Future: Adding 1 million jobs in NSW by 2036. The work builds on current marketing and promotion campaigns being developed and the job brokerage model established by the Employment Enablement Strategy. $6 million invested in the 3 years to 2017/18 has created new pathways to employment for over 275 people with disability to date, and building the capacity of business to employ people


Department of Finance, Services and Innovation – Fair Trading NSW

Consumer Awareness and Protection

The Consumer Awareness and Protection Project Initiative Project commenced in July 2016 and is being undertaken by NSW Fair Trading. It aims to build the capacity of people with disabilities, and the disability sector, to make informed decisions when entering the NSW marketplace. The project will also build capacity and expertise within NSW Fair Trading to ensure that consumer education and protection services are accessible to people with disability beyond the full implementation of the NDIS in 2018.

Through the state-wide community education program Consumer Awareness and Protection Initiative seeks to empower consumers with knowledge about the protective actions they can take to minimise the risk of being taken advantage of and what action they can take if things go wrong. In the period up to 30 December 2016, NSW Fair Trading delivered 83 community education sessions with 2250 people attending, including people with disability, carers, advocates, service providers and the wider disability sector. To date there has also been engagement with over 40 interagencies, networks and support forums directed at the disability support sector.

NSW Health

Responding to Needs of People with Disability During Hospitalisation

In December 2016, the Ministry of Health completed a review of the NSW Health Policy Directive Disability-People with Disability: Responding to Needs During Hospitalisation. The policy was revised in consultation with the NSW Health system, the NSW Department of Family and Community Services, the NSW Ombudsman’s Office the Council for Intellectual Disability, the Physical Disability Council NSW and academics.

The revised policy, titled Responding to Needs of People with Disability During Hospitalisation, published in January 2017, sets out principles for responding to the needs of people with disability, using stages in a patient’s journey through hospitalisation as a framework to provide practical guidance for implementing those principles. Key requirements in the policy include:

• Ensuring there is effective communication with the person with disability; • Making reasonable adjustments according to the needs of the individual; and • Undertaking thorough care coordination to meet the needs of people with

disability, including National Disability Insurance Scheme and Department of Family and Community Service clients, before, during and after the provision of care in hospital.

The policy promotes robust monitoring frameworks for NSW Local Health Districts and Specialty Health Networks to determine whether there is a difference in the quality of health care and outcomes for people with disability.


NSW Health Disability Inclusion Action Plan 2016-2019

The Ministry of Health released the NSW Health Disability Inclusion Action Plan 2016-2019 in January 2016, available here. The Disability Inclusion Action Plan was developed in partnership with the NSW Local Health Districts, Specialty Health Networks, Pillars, State-wide Health Services, Shared Services, non-government disability organisations and people with disability and their carers.

The DIAP sets the direction for the NSW Health system to embed disability inclusion principles and actions into their existing strategic planning and has four areas of focus aligned with those of the NSW Disability Inclusion Plan.

A state-wide steering committee with representation of senior leaders from NSW Local Health Districts, Specialty Health Networks, Pillars, State-wide Health Services, Shared Services, and the disability and carer sectors drives and monitors implementation of the DIAP strategies and reports on its progress in the NSW Health Annual Report. In October 2016, a survey conducted with NSW Health services determined the implementation of the DIAP strategies and will be used to inform feedback and future reporting.

Online training courses

Between March 2015 and August 2016, the NSW Health Education and Training Institute developed four online courses that are promoted to NSW Health service staff to build their knowledge, communication skills and confidence when providing care and services to people with disability. The courses include:

• Let’s Talk Disability – a module that enables health staff to implement a person-centred approach and communicate effectively with people with disability (published in March 2015).

• Cognitive Disability and the Criminal Justice System – a training module developed in collaboration with Justice Health and Forensic Mental Health Network that equips health staff to communicate effectively and support people with cognitive disability in or at risk of contact with the criminal justice system (published in October 2015)

• Be My Brother – a short video that endeavours to communicate the needs, opinions and desires of people with disability (published in August 2016); and

• The Interviewer – a short film that demonstrates the barriers faced by people with a disability during a job interview (published in August 2016).

Department of Industry

Resources for hiring managers

The Department of Industry will be developing guidelines and resources for hiring managers to ensure equitable access through recruitment. This will improve the ability of people with disability to gain employment with the Department of Industry.

http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/disability/Pages/disability-action-plan-16-19.aspx


Internal disability employee group

The Department of Industry has formed an internal disability employee group to provide advice and contribute to the ongoing development and implementation of the Department of Industry Disability Inclusion Action Plan.

Department of Justice

Disability Justice Project

The Disability Justice Project is a capacity building initiative across the NSW disability sector to support people with an intellectual disability who come into contact with the justice system, to be able to exercise their rights under the law. The project is delivered by a consortium of partners comprising Association of Children’s Welfare Agencies, training division Centre for Community Welfare Training (lead agency), Life Without Barriers and Intellectual Disability Rights Service. The project includes:

A comprehensive training curriculum to improve sector knowledge and practice which is human rights based, person centred and best practice support for this population. The training targets providing direct supports, disability organisation managers, supervisors and in house trainers.

Statewide interagency communities of practice networks resourced to support and maintain disability and justice best practice.

Leadership forums for management within organisations to build commitment and engagement across the sector with both the training program and communities of practice.

As of December 2016, seven training courses have been delivered across 27 locations, with more than 3,300 participants. Interest in the curriculum has been greater than the capacity to deliver with an additional 600 people wait-listed for further opportunities.

Seventy-three communities of practice have been held in 15 locations across the state, with attendance of over 245 representatives from 71 organisations committed to improving practice and support for people with disabilities in contact with the justice system. The sessions have established a collective core attendance of more than 125 representatives.

Two courses are available on line with further packages being released throughout 2017. These two courses are Involvement in the Justice System – Sociological Risk Factors and Supporting Aboriginal Peoples in Contact with the Justice System

New Disability Justice Strategy

The Department of Justice is developing a new Disability Justice Strategy, in consultation with its Justice Disability Advisory Council. This strategy will look at issues for people with disability that have come in contact with the criminal and civil

http://www.disabilityjustice.edu.au/courses/sociological-risk-factors

http://www.disabilityjustice.edu.au/courses/sociological-risk-factors

http://www.disabilityjustice.edu.au/courses/online-module-supporting-aboriginal-peoples-in-contact-with-the-justice-system


justice systems, as victims, witnesses, defendants and other parties. Community consultations on the proposed strategy have been planned and are expected to commence in 2017.

Department of Planning and Environment

Initiatives to reducing barriers

The Department of Planning and Environment is reducing barriers for people with disability to access services and facilities, obtain and maintain employment, engage with, work and participate with the Department of Planning and Environment. As part of this initiative, International Day of People with Disability was promoted and the Department of Planning and Environment Disability Inclusion Action Plan was officially launched with the Harmony Day 2016 event. Staff have been encouraged to update their diversity details, recognising that a person’s disability status can change over time and support the gathering of accurate data to help with workforce planning.

Online accessibility

Online accessibility has been improved by the Department of Planning and Environment with the BASIX Planning Portal, State Environmental Planning Policy No 65, and the Department of Planning and Environment’s website all being Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 compliant.

Department of Premier and Cabinet

Accessible event planning

The Department of Premier and Cabinet has partnered with other government agencies to promote greater opportunities for participation and inclusion of people with disability in NSW Government supported events. This has been highly successful to promote accessible tourism and attract people with disability to major events in NSW.

Transport for NSW

Accessible Transport Initiatives

In June 2015 the NSW Government committed $890 million over four years to the Transport Access Program, an initiative to deliver safe, modern and accessible public transport infrastructure in NSW.

Transport for NSW has been engaging people with disability in the detailed design of the Sydney Metro project. The operator for the Sydney Metro Northwest project, Northwest Rapid Transit, delivered a life sized train model which was used to undertake user group and stakeholder acceptance of the design of Sydney’s new metro train in late 2015.


User groups included representatives from Accessible Transport Advisory Council, the NSW Physical Disability Council and the Commuter Council. More than 285 people visited the model during this period and 241 survey results and comments were received.

Users rated the model of the metro train very highly across customer-facing categories of lighting, security, safety and communications, seating and internal layout, accessibility, comfort and external styling.

As a result of the feedback from disability groups, the train design was improved. One example is that the help point feature of the train was re-designed and the revised product has since received positive feedback.

Northwest Rapid Transit also hosted representatives from disability groups at its station prototype at Rouse Hill in February 2016.

Sydney Metro is obligated to comply with the requirements of the Disability Standards for Accessible Public Transport.

Transport for NSW has facilitated the development of a number of accessible mobile phone apps assisting customers that have mobility and vision impairment.

In August 2016 Transport for NSW began a wayfinding trial for customers with visual impairment at Town Hall using a combination of Bluetooth beacon devices and a wayfinding app with audible cues.

The Treasury

Implementation of Disability Inclusion Action Plan

The NSW Treasury has continued the implementation of their Disability Inclusion Action Plan which will has been an initial priority. The further operationlising of the NSW Treasury Disability Inclusion Action Plan will assist with developing broader diversity and inclusion strategies and initiatives to improve disability inclusion.

Appendix 1: NSW Disability Inclusion Plan Implementation Committee Membership

NSW public authorities

• Department of Education • Department of Family and Community Services • Department of Family and Community Services – Ageing, Disability and Home

Care • Department of Finance, Services and Innovation


• Ministry of Health • Department of Industry • Department of Justice • Department of Planning and Environment • Department of Planning and Environment – Office of Local Government • Department of Premier and Cabinet • Department of Transport • The Treasury • Public Service Commission • Mental Health Commission

Disability and community organisations

• Disability Council NSW • Physical Disability Council of New South Wales • NSW Council of Social Services • NSW Council for Intellectual Disability • Australian Network on Disability • Local Government NSW

Meeting Dates

The Disability Inclusion Advisory Committee • 6 April 2016 • 25 July 2016 • 30 November 2016 • 29 March 2017 • 26 June 2017


Appendix 2: Evaluation and Reporting Schedule


Appendix 3: Disability Inclusion Result Logic


Links and resources

• NSW Disability Inclusion Act 2014 • NSW Disability Inclusion Plan • Link to NSW DIP / DIAP resources page on the FACS website • Disability Council NSW listing of NSW Government Cluster and Local Government

Disability Inclusion Action Plans • National public toilet database • LG NSW Guidelines for Disability Inclusion Action planning for local government • Clubs NSW Best practice guidelines • NSW Business Chamber resources • Sport NSW “Sport For All” website • Don’t DIS my ABILITY – Historic link: http://www.dontdismyability.com.au/ • Live Work Play - See the Possibilities website

Government agencies

• Department of Education • Department of Family and Community Services • Department of Family and Community Services – Ageing, Disability and Home

Care • Department of Finance, Services and Innovation • Ministry of Health • Department of Industry • Department of Justice • Department of Planning and Environment • Department of Planning and Environment – Office of Local Government • Department of Premier and Cabinet • Department of Transport • The Treasury • Public Service Commission • Mental Health Commission

Contact us

To become involved, to be kept informed or to access accessible information on the implementation of the NSW Disability Inclusion Plan and Disability Inclusion Action Planning or to obtain a copy of this report in an alternate format please use the following links:

Email: • [email protected] • [email protected]

Web: • http://www.facs.nsw.gov.au/reforms/developing-the-nsw-disability-inclusion-plan

Phone: • (02) 8753 9333 Translation & Interpreting Service: • 131 450

https://www.facs.nsw.gov.au/reforms/developing-the-nsw-disability-inclusion-plan

https://www.facs.nsw.gov.au/reforms/developing-the-nsw-disability-inclusion-plan/disability-inclusion-action-plans

http://www.disabilitycouncil.nsw.gov.au/disability_inclusion_planning

http://www.disabilitycouncil.nsw.gov.au/disability_inclusion_planning

https://toiletmap.gov.au/

http://www.lgnsw.org.au/files/imce-uploads/127/nsw-local-government-disability-inclusion-action-planning-guidelines-5.11.15-2.pdf

http://www.clubsnsw.com.au/docs/default-source/default-document-library/disability/disability-guide-final.pdf?sfvrsn=2

https://www.nswbusinesschamber.com.au/Issues/Issues/Workforce-Skills/Employ-Outside-the-Box-the-benefits-of-diversifyi

https://www.sportnsw.com.au/sport-for-all/

http://www.dontdismyability.com.au/

http://www.dontdismyability.com.au/

https://www.seethepossibilities.nsw.gov.au/resources/live-work-play


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Documents

NSW Disability Inclusion Plan Update 2017...Inclusion Action Plans and will report on the progress of implementation in 2018. • The Live Work Play – NSW the State of Inclusion