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MHCC ACT Response to the Review of the Disability Discrimination Act

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Mental Health

Community Coalition ACT

MHCC ACT Response to the Review of the Disability Discrimination Act

October 2025

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgement of Country

Mental Health Community Coalition ACT is located on Ngunnawal Country. We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the land. We pay our respects to their Elders, past and present. We further acknowledge all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Traditional Custodians and Country and recognise their continuing connection to land, sea, culture and community.

Acknowledgement of mental health lived experience

We also acknowledge the individual and collective expertise of those with a living or lived experience of mental health. We recognise their vital contribution at all levels and value the courage of those who share this unique perspective for the purpose of learning and growing together to achieve better outcomes for all.

About MHCC ACT

The Mental Health Community Coalition of the ACT (MHCC ACT) is a membership-based organisation which was established in 2004 as a peak agency. It provides vital advocacy, representational and capacity building roles for the Not for Profit (NFP) community-managed mental health sector in the ACT. This sector covers the range of non-government organisations (NGO) that offer mental health recovery, early intervention, prevention, health promotion and community support services.

We advocate for a mental health system that offers people support and belonging within their community.

Introduction

As the peak body for community mental health in the ACT, the Mental Health Community Coalition ACT (MHCC ACT) is pleased to review the recommendations being made regarding the Disability Discrimination Act 1992.

MHCC ACT acknowledges and understands the importance of the Disability Discrimination Act 1992, which helps to ensure people with disability receive fair and equitable treatment in all facets. It has been found that people with disability continue to face discrimination and barriers to participation and inclusion, which can lead to high levels of distress and negative feelings towards oneself (Vaughan et al., 2024). The Disability Discrimination Act must, therefore, ensure it represents and protects all people with disability.

Evidence has shown that people with disability, often have worse mental health outcomes compared to people without disability (Koenig et al., 2024). Whilst there are varying factors resulting in poorer mental health outcomes for people who have a disability, research shows that disability discrimination can have negative impacts on an individual’s mental health (Krnjacki et al., 2017). Experiencing disability discrimination has been shown to increase the probability of psychological distress, further leading to high levels of avoidance, or the increase in health-damaging behaviours as a coping mechanism (Temple et al., 2019). Recognising the connection between disability and ill-mental health is extremely important, but it is also vital to understand that people can experience mental illness as a disability alone, without a physical disability present.

We must ensure that the Disability Discrimination Act protects people who have a mental disorder, that is classified as a disability under the definition within the Act. Mental illness is often a hidden disability, as individuals can look “healthy”, but continue to face significant impacts to their daily functioning and living (Granjon et al., 2025). Acts of discrimination toward people with mental illness can be more difficult to notice and identify, as the discrimination experienced is often different to the discrimination experienced by people with a physical disability. Thus, acts of discrimination toward people with a mental illness tend to be more subtle or go unnoticed at times.

The Disability Discrimination Act at present, has grouped both physical disability and mental illness together, representing a collective experience. It is known that the discrimination experienced by people with a physical disability, is vastly different to the experiences of people with a mental disorder or illness. Therefore, further research should address the different types of discrimination experienced by people with physical disability and mental illness. As well, it must further be understood that it is unlikely that a single Disability Discrimination Act is able to fairly represent and protect all people with disability.

For more information contact:

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CEO

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Summary of Recommendations

Based on the questions raised regarding potential updates to the Disability Discrimination Act, MHCC ACT makes the following recommendations:

  1. Changes are made to the definition of disability contained within the Act, ensuring that people with mental illness are fairly and contemporarily represented
  2. The Act be amended to ensure duty holders take appropriate actions to ensure mental health discrimination does not occur
  3. The recommendations made by the Centre for Mental Health 2021 Report on Reducing Stigma and Discrimination Towards People with Mental Illness are implemented
  4. Further support and education about mental illness provided to duty holders

The implementation of these recommendations will allow for people with mental illness to be better represented and protected under the Disability Discrimination Act.

Defining disability within the Act

The definition of disability, as stated within the Disability Discrimination Act, describes mental illness in dot point 7. The description of mental illness as stated in the Act is “…affects a person’s thought processes, perception of reality, emotions or judgement or that results in disturbed behaviour”. Whilst this definition does outline some of the symptoms of a mental illness, the definition itself needs to be updated and modernised, to better represent people who have a mental illness.

Modernisations

Within the definition, the word “disturbed” must be updated and modernised. The use of this word to represent individuals with disability is troubling. It is important that the language used within the definition of disability avoids the use of terminology which may imply a negative value judgement (Volkow et al., 2021).

Mental illnesses have continued to be stigmatised conditions, which decreases the likelihood of individuals wanting to seek help (Habeb et al., 2025). The wording used to describe mental illness, should be recovery focused and person-centred, reflecting that a person is not characterised just by their disability or mental illness (Volkow et al., 2021). Updating the wording of the definition, removes the possibility of feelings of shame, stigmatisation and further stops of the creation of stereotypes which can foster negative generalisations about individuals who have a mental illness (Habeb et al., 2025).

A powerful example of the damage caused by stigma and discrimination can be observed when considering the experiences of people with co-occurring mental illness and substance use disorders. Population estimates indicate that over 30% of individuals with a substance use disorder have a mental health condition and, frequently, a history of trauma (Marel et al., 2022). Those experiencing co-occurring conditions ‘have often been subjected to stigmatisation and discrimination’ in relation to both conditions and this contributes to barriers in accessing healthcare and may even deter a person from seeking help at all (Marel et al., 2022).

The language used in the definition of the Act must frame mental illness in a way that reduces, rather than potentially contributes to, the stigmatisation experienced by individuals.

Recommendations:

  1. Changes are made to the definition of disability contained within the Act, ensuring that people with mental illness are fairly and contemporarily represented.

Duty holders in charge of preventing discrimination

MHCC ACT supports the introduction and implementation of a ‘positive duty’, which would apply to all duty holders. We recognise the importance of this, ensuring that duty holders actively prevent discrimination from occurring at all times. The implementation of this recommendation ensures that the accountability for preventing discrimination, is shifted from the person being discriminated against, to the duty holders.

For duty holders to ensure they are preventing discrimination from occurring, MHCC ACT supports the recommendations made by the Centre for Mental Health in 2021, which reported on “Reducing stigma and discrimination toward people with mental illness”. Through a series of consultations, the report made 12 recommendations which should be implemented to ensure that discrimination against people with mental illness is significantly reduced (Centre for Mental Health, 2021).

Notably, a recommendation made within the report highlighted the steps needed, to address discrimination within workplaces, education settings and other organisations. The recommendations suggested below are echoed from the recommendations made by the Centre for Mental Health:

  • Ensure all duty holders undergo ongoing training about the impacts that discrimination can have for individuals, specifically when a disability is ‘invisible’.
  • Positive behaviour and attitudes toward people with mental illness should be modelled by individuals in leadership roles. Duty holders must ensure that regulations are in place, and that accountability and action must be taken for any individuals who do not model this behaviour.
  • Ongoing mental health education should be presented and provided to students in schools and universities. Duty holders should ensure that students are provided with the opportunity to learn about mental health and mental illness, encouraging open and safe discussions.

To prevent discrimination from occurring, duty holders should be provided education and support, to learn about mental illness (Centre for Mental Health, 2021). The implementation of education about mental illness to duty holders, would allow for positive behaviour modelling to be undertaken by the duty holders, encouraging staff and students to do the same (Wu et al., 2021). Additionally, duty holders must understand the vital role they hold in ensuring that discrimination is actively prevented, and those experiencing discrimination are protected.

Recommendations:

  1. The Act be amended to ensure duty holders take appropriate actions to ensure mental health discrimination does not occur
  2. The recommendations made by the Centre for Mental Health 2021 Report on Reducing Stigma and Discrimination Towards People with Mental Illness are implemented
  3. Further support and education about mental illness provided to duty holders

References

Centre for Mental Health. (2021). Reducing stigma and discrimination towards people with mental illness, Final summary and recommendations, 19 April 2021. https://www.mentalhealthcommission.gov.au/sites/default/files/2024-08/misred---report-5---final-summary-and-recommendations.pdf

Granjon, M., Pillaud, N., Popa-Roch, M., Aube, B., & Rohmer, O. (2025). Attitudes towards invisible disabilities: Evidence from behavioural tendencies. Current Research in Behavioural Sciences, 8, 100164. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crbeha.2024.100164

Habeb, M., Muacevic, A., & Adler, J. R. (2025). Stigma in mental health: the status and future direction. Cureus, 17(6), e85398. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.85398

Koenig, J., McLean, K. J., & Bishop, L. (2024). Psychological distress and mental health diagnoses in adults by disability and functional disability status: Findings from the 2021 national health interview survey. Disability and Health Journal, 17(4), 101641. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dhjo.2024.101641

Krnjacki, L., Priest, N., Aitken, Z., Emerson, E., Llewellyn, G., King, T & Kavanagh, A. (2017). Disability-based discrimination and health: findings from an Australian-based population study. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 42(2), 172-174. https://doi.org/10.1111/1753-6405.12735

Marel, C. Siedlecka, E., Fisher, A., Gournay, K., Deady, M., Baker, A., Kay-Lambkin, F., Teesson, M., Baillie, A. & Mills, KL. (2022). Guidelines on the management of co-occurring alcohol and other drug and mental health conditions in alcohol and other drug treatment settings (3rd edition). Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use, The University of Sydney. https://comorbidityguidelines.org.au/pdf/comorbidity-guideline.pdf

Temple, J. B., Kelaher, M., & Williams, R. (2019). Disability discrimination and avoidance in later life: prevalence, disability differentials and association with mental health. International Psychogeriatrics, 31(9), 1319-1329. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1041610218001722

Vaughan, P., Boydell, K., Blayney, A., Hooper, A., Taylor, S., Lenette, C., Lappin, J., & Dew, A. (2025). ‘We are mirrored in your gaze’: experiences and outcomes of stigma and discrimination for women with disability and mental distress. Disability & Society, 1-26. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2025.2470727

Volkow, N. D., Gordon, J. A., & Koob, G. F. (2021). Choosing appropriate language to reduce the stigma around mental illness and substance use disorders. Neuropsychopharmacology, 46(13), 2230-2232. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41386-021-01069-4

Wu, A., Roemer, E. C., Kent, K. B., Ballard, D. W., & Goetzel, R. Z. (2021). Organisational best practices supporting mental health in the workplace. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 63(12), e925-e931. https://doi.org/10.1097/JOM.0000000000002407

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Community Coalition ACT

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