It’s time disability reform became an election commitment

This opinion piece by Disability Discrimination Commissioner Rosemary Kayess was published in The Mandarin.

Exhaustion and despair. No words better surmise the mood within Australia’s disability community at the end of another sitting year of Parliament.  

Another year of advocacy and hard work, striving for equality, once again let down and disillusioned by the outcomes.  

The past 12 months had promised so much. From the Disability Royal Commission, the NDIS Review, and the review of Australia’s ten-year Disability Strategy, there has been a significant focus on reform. People with disability played a major part in these processes, providing extensive – often traumatic – evidence of their daily lives, and offering their solutions for fundamental change.  

Yet, each time, the response has been underwhelming and “business as usual”, entrenching inequality and paternalism. 

With a federal election looming, this status quo must change, and soon. 

Just last month, the Federal Government declined to respond to a 2022 Senate Inquiry into the Disability Support Pension, which had made 30 recommendations aimed at making the payment more adequate, accessible and fair. The report languished for more than two years, only for the previous Coalition Government – which was in power when the findings were delivered – and the current Labor Government choosing not to respond. 

For people with disability who rely on this pension, many of whom live in poverty, this outcome is a cruel blow. Ignoring much-needed reforms to a deeply flawed system denies people dignity and respect and entrenches the dehumanising effects of poverty. Despite Australia’s history of policy reform and review, people with disability continue to face economic exclusion and social, cultural, and political isolation. 

Why does this continue? Ableism is a key factor. While sexism and racism are recognised as societal failures requiring systemic change, disability is still viewed as an individual problem. The language of ‘inclusion’ and ‘potential’, so often used in disability policy, may appear positive, but it masks a deeply ableist worldview that sees people with disability as “other”, as burdens, and in need of “fixing” or “curing”. 

One glaring example is the recurring rhetoric about the cost of the NDIS, which often suggests that people with disability are “too expensive” and “burdens” on the budget. There is no recognition that people with disability are bearing the costs and the burden of a fundamentally inaccessible and unequal society that the NDIS was originally designed to address. An appropriately managed, rights-based NDIS benefits everyone by ensuring equal access to all aspects of community life, yet public commentary too often suggests otherwise.  

Ableism permeates policies and institutions, creating “special” systems, including in care, justice, education and employment that segregate people with disability under the guise of “benevolent” care, treatment and protection. 

When society focuses on what makes people with disability “different”, it sidesteps the need to dismantle ableist structures that undermine autonomy and reinforce inequality. What we term “impairment” is just one dimension of human diversity; no one embodies every skill or aptitude. Maintaining “special” systems for people with disability rather than rethinking our systems leaves true social transformation beyond reach. 

This is a challenge for all of us. Politicians, policymakers, service providers, advocates, and society at large must play a role to challenge and change these systems. With an election on the horizon, political parties really need to commit to addressing ableism to attract broad community support. 

Modernising the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) is a crucial step. Currently, the outdated DDA places the burden of addressing discrimination on people with disability and provides a defence for those accused of discrimination if they can prove “unjustifiable hardship”. One of the necessary updates would be to include a ‘positive duty’, similar to the Sex Discrimination Act. A positive duty would legally require organisations and businesses to take reasonable steps to prevent discriminatory conduct against people with disability, including by making reasonable adjustments for employees with disability. 

We need consistent anti-discrimination law that prevents discrimination from happening, creating a framework where rights apply equally, and public and private entities are held accountable. 

Along with this, an Australian Human Rights Act would be transformative. It would protect the rights of all in Australia, help to prevent rights breaches and give people the power to take action if their rights are violated. Recognising people with disability as part of society’s diversity would affirm their equal human rights and challenge the segregation that ableism reinforces. 

This week marks the International Day of People with Disability, but there is little to celebrate. Instead, the disability community is rallying for the next fight, determined to prevent a repeat of history’s incremental reforms that fail to address or combat ableism. 

This election is an opportunity for our politicians to commit to generational disability reform that achieves equal rights for all. We cannot continue to let history repeat itself if we want genuine and long-lasting social change. 

Rosemary Kayess is the Disability Discrimination Commissioner