[dbaust] Fw: [bca-npdc] Press Statement - Funding Cuts for Disability Peaks
- From: Erika Webb <erikaweb@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: Erika Webb <erikaweb@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 9 Jan 2015 03:27:44 +0000 (UTC)
PRESS STATEMENT from Ms Maryanne Diamond, AO and Mr Colin Allen 9 January 2015
This Press Statement is available in Auslan athttp://youtu.be/Pgd5DOIVvMU
Funding Cuts will lead to one of Australia’s most Vulnerable Groups being
Further Disadvantaged. Just days before Christmas a number of peak
organisations of persons with disabilities were advised by the Department of
Social Services that their funding will be discontinued. The department has
decided to fund 6 organisations instead of the previous 13 which had been
funded for many years, providing valuable advice to government and support to
their membership. This is happening at a time where it has been recognised
worldwide that disability is viewed within a human rights framework. This means
that people with disabilities speak on their own behalf and make their own
decisions. Australia has indicated its commitment to this framework through
ratifying the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities (UNCRPD) and the introduction of the National Disability Insurance
Scheme (NDIS). Funding has been preserved for organisations representing
various population groups such as women, children, CALD communities and
Indigenous groups, all of which play a very important role. However, the
organisations representing the specific disability groups such as blindness,
deafness and intellectual disability, have had their funding terminated. Peak
organisations representing specific disability groups have extensive knowledge
in addressing the needs that cannot be covered by organisations representing
various population groups. These organisations have significant concerns as to
how well broad-based organisations will be able to address the needs of
specific disability groups. Maryanne Diamond, AO, immediate past president
of theWorld Blind Union (WBU) and Chair of theInternational Disability Alliance
(IDA), and Colin Allen, President of the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD) and
First Vice Chair of the IDA, expressed serious concerns about the potential
impacts of this decision. “The membership of IDA is made up of the leaders
of global and regional disability organisations.” said Ms Diamond. “The groups
representing each specific disability were the founding members of IDA, and
played an important role working together in the development and adoption of
the UNCRPD. They bring huge experience and expertise to the table which is
essential for all our decision making as the global body of persons with
disabilities.” Mr Allen also emphasised the importance of specific
disability expertise in shaping policy: “Without the insistence and persistence
of the WFD and the WBU, and their members, neither sign language, which is the
primary language of deaf and deafblind persons, nor Braille, which is a
critical access measure for people who are blind, would have been as prominent
in the UNCRPD.” As past leaders of bothDeaf Australia andBlind Citizens
Australia, Mr Allen and Ms Diamond urge the Australian government to reconsider
this decision and find a way to continue funding to these peak organisations.
The voices of these organisations are critical for the development of
government policy and service provision to some of Australia’s most vulnerable
groups. Media Contact: Maryanne Diamond: 0419 312 129 Colin Allen:
0458 125 587 (Text Only) #yiv1545361273
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