Changes to the Disability Discrimination Act
We want to know what you think
Easy Read version
How to use this document
We are the Attorney-General’s Department (AGD).
We wrote this document.
We wrote some words in bold.
We explain what these words mean.
There is also a list of these words on page 41.
You can ask someone you trust for support to:
- read this document
- find more information.
This is an Easy Read summary of another document.
It only includes the most important ideas.
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You can find the other document on our website.
www.consultations.ag.gov.au/rights-and-protections/dda-community-survey
In this document, we talk about things that might upset you.
We have a list of support services you can contact.
Their contact details are on page 34.
This is a long document.
You don’t need to read it all at once.
You can take your time.
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What’s in this document?
About the Disability Discrimination Act 5
Why we are reviewing the Act 6
How to tell us what you think 8
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Update what disability and discrimination mean 11
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Stop discrimination from happening 15
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Make organisations more inclusive 18
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Better protect people with disability 24
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Check when people can be treated in a different way 28
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Update some rules in the Act 30
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Other changes we could make 33
Support for you 34
Word list 41
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About the Disability Discrimination Act
The Disability Discrimination Act is a law that protects people with disability from discrimination.
In this document, we just call it the Act.
Discrimination is when someone treats you differently because of part of who you are.
Many people with disability in Australia still experience discrimination in different parts of their lives.
For example, at work or school.
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Why we are reviewing the Act
The Australian Government is reviewing the Act to find out:
- what is working well
- what changes we could make.
The Act was made 30 years ago.
This means there are parts of the Act that don’t work well anymore.
The government could make changes to the Act to make sure it protects people with disability from discrimination.
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The Disability Royal Commission shared 15 ideas about how to make the Act better.
The Disability Royal Commission looked into problems that people with disability experienced.
It helped the Australian Government find out:
- what went wrong
- what needs to improve.
The government has used these ideas to help decide what parts of the Act we could change.
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How to tell us what you think
We explain 6 areas in the Act.
We want to know how the government could change each area.
We also want to know if there are other areas in the Act that you think the government could change.
We ask you some questions.
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You can answer:
- all of our questions
- some of our questions.
You can send us your ideas in an email.
You can also send us your ideas in a letter.
Human Rights Branch,
Attorney-General’s Department
3-5 National Circuit,
Barton
ACT 2006
You can also share your ideas on the phone.
(02) 6141 6280
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You can leave a voicemail telling us when we can call you back.
You can find out when you need to share your ideas by on our website.
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1. Update what disability and discrimination mean
We want to know how the government could update what some words in the Act mean.
This includes:
- disability
- discrimination.
The government could update what disability means in the Act so it shows:
- more respect for people with disability
- that people with disability can experience discrimination because of other parts of who they are.
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The government could update what discrimination means in the Act so:
- it’s easier to understand
- it better protects people from discrimination in their daily life.
They could also make sure the words in the Act better follow the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).
The CRPD is an agreement between different countries.
It says that people with disability should have the same rights as everyone else.
Rights are rules about how people must treat you:
- fairly
- equally.
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What we want to know
How do you think the government could explain ‘disability’ in the Act?
Please write your answer in the box below.
- People who have addional need / different ways of thinking
- All disablities are different they could be meantal, intellektal, physical.
How do you think the government could explain ‘discrimination’ in the Act?
Please write your answer in the box below.
- Be nice to people, Respect
- to put yourself in the otter persons shoed.
- Treat people how you want to be treated.
- All people are equal.
2. Stop discrimination from happening
People with disability can only make a complaint after they experience discrimination.
A complaint is when you tell someone that something:
- has gone wrong
- isn’t working well.
We want to know how the government could change the Act to stop discrimination before it happens.
There could be new rules for organisations to make sure:
- they take action to stop discrimination from happening
- everyone can take part.
When we talk about organisations in this document, we mean:
- schools
- businesses
- services.
What we want to know
What rules could the government include in the Act to make sure organisations stop discrimination from happening?
Please write your answer in the box below.
- Rules for Managers, & everyone
- Training.
- Supervisors to keep on top of
- Stricter / Firmer consequence.
3. Make organisations more inclusive
We want to know how the government could change the rules in the Act that organisations must follow to be more inclusive.
When an organisation is inclusive, everyone:
- can take part
- feels like they belong.
Reasonable adjustments
The Act includes rules about making reasonable adjustments.
Reasonable adjustments are changes that organisations need to make so people with disability can take part.
For example, so they can work or study.
We want to know if we should change the Act so it just says ‘adjustments’.
This would make it clearer to everyone what rules organisations must follow.
There are rules for employers about deciding if people with disability are able to do a job.
An employer is a person who hires other people to work for them.
The employer must think about if the person:
- has the right skills
- has the right training
- can do the tasks that the job needs.
We want to know if the government should update these rules so employers must:
- think about what reasonable adjustments they could make to support a person to do a job
- talk to the person about what reasonable adjustments they need to do a job.
Unjustifiable hardship
Organisations must make reasonable adjustments for people with disability unless it would cause unjustifiable hardship.
Unjustifiable hardship is when organisations find it too hard to change things for a person with disability.
For example, if the reasonable adjustments:
- are too hard to do
- cost too much money.
We want to know if there should be different rules for organisations about unjustifiable hardship.
These rules will help organisations make better decisions about unjustifiable hardship.
For example, the rules could say that organisations should:
- talk to people with disability about what support they need to take part
- think about other ways they can support people with disability to take part.
Clearer rules for schools
We also want to know how the government could make the rules clearer for schools about how to support students with disability.
For example, the rules could say that it is discrimination if a school stops a student from coming to school or taking part because of their disability.
What we want to know
What rules could the government include in the Act to make sure organisations support people with disability to take part?
Please write your answer in the box below.
- More train in Disability within the sector
- Every organisation should have Disability awareness training
4. Better protect people with disability
Offensive behaviour
We want to know how the government could change the Act to better protect people from experiencing offensive behaviour because of their disability.
Offensive behaviour is when someone says or does something serious about a person’s disability that could:
- intimidate them — make them feel scared or unsafe
- humiliate them — make them feel very bad
- offend them — make them very upset
- insult them — make them very angry.
Spreading hate
We want to know how the government could change the Act to stop people from spreading hate about people with disability.
They could make new rules that make it against the law to spread hate about people with disability.
Treatment by the police
There are rules in the Act to stop the police from treating people differently because they have a disability.
We want to know how the government could make these rules clearer.
This could help people with disability to get the support they need from the police.
What we want to know
What rules could the government make to better protect people with disability from:
- offensive behaviour?
- spreading hate about people with disability?
Please write your answer in the box below.
Bullying No picking on one and another. Digital ID. Concequences for online trolling Chatroom moderating
How could the government change the rules about how the police should treat people with disability?
Please write your answer in the box below.
- More training on how to support people with a disability.
- Depending on what someone needs help with if they can support.
- Support for people with hidden disabilitte
- Government card identify people with a disability and how to support.
5. Check when people can be treated in a different way
There are rules in the Act to stop people with disability from experiencing discrimination.
But the Act also says there are times when people or organisations don’t have to follow these rules.
For example, they might be allowed to treat people with disability in a different way to:
- support the person to take part
- keep everyone safe.
What we want to know
How should the government change the rules in the Act about when people with disability can be treated in a different way?
Please write your answer in the box below.
6. Update some rules in the Act
Assistance animals
We want to know how the government could update the rules in the Act about assistance animals.
Assistance animals are trained to support people with disability in different ways.
For example, a guide dog.
They could look at how to update these rules to make them clearer about:
- training for assistance animals
- how to prove that an animal is an assistance animal.
Disability action plans
We want to know how the government could update the rules in the Act about disability action plans.
We could look at rules to make disability action plans work better.
Disability standards
We want to know what rules the government could include in the Act to make sure organisations follow disability standards.
Standards are rules about how to do things well.
You can:
- meet standards
- go above standards
- not meet standards.
Disability standards include rules about making it easy for people with disability to:
- find and use services
- move around.
What we want to know
What could the government include in the rules:
- about assistance animals?
- about disability action plans?
- to make sure organisations follow disability standards?
Please write your answer in the box below.
All companies registered so that they are held to the same standards.
7. Other changes we could make
Are there other things you think the government could change in the Act that we haven’t talked about?
Please write your answer in the box below.
Support for you
There are services you can contact if you need support.
You can find their contact details on the following pages.
Translating and Interpreting Service (TIS)
If you need something in a language other than English, you can call the Translating and Interpreting Service (TIS).
131 450
You can ask them to connect you to one of the services below.