You don’t need to be a PDA member (although feel free to sign up for our free membership at pda.org.au/membership).
If you’re
join us at our “Fair and Accessible Healthcare” webinar on Tuesday 5th August
6pm NSW/VIC/ACT/QLD/TAS
5:30pm SA/NT
4pm WA
As NAIDOC weeks draws to a close once again, I want to pay respects to all the deadly mob who have come before us, who are with us now as elders and those that are following the song lines of our elders.
The oldest living culture on earth does not have a single word for disabilty but views disability more as a state of the human condition, focusing more on specific impairments, “aunty can’t walk real well” or “uncle can’t hear too good” (First People’s Disability Network, 2025).
In a community where the focus is on caring for everyone, where all mob are treated equally, where kinship and family are the backbone of the connection to community and country, we can only as a whole nation aspire to this.
We are not there yet!
The rates of Aboriginal children in custody are still high. The rates of disabled men, women and children abused in our institutions are high. Death in custody is a real and present danger for community and racism within systems impact services and treatment community received.
We are not there yet!
When we speak of disability and being disabled as a member of a community (the broader Australian community), most of us know that in this land, having a disability means you are discriminated against, daily, actually ever time you go out in public there are acts of unconscious bias and even conscious bias towards us as disabled people.
We are served last in shops, we are spoken to like children, we are excluded from mainstream society. Our outcomes for health, education, employment and housing are the bottom of the statistic in this country.
BUT resilience can be seen and witnessed in even the darkest of corners, where disabled people are pushing back, where community is standing by us and in some instances, we are thriving.
The intersectionality between black and disabled provides us with a lens to examine our priorities when it comes to unconscious bias and institutional racism. It is time to call it out. Not in a rabble of disconnected individuals but as a community.
It is reported that 63% of Aboriginal people with disabilities have a physical disability (australian institute for health and welfare 2025).
So at the end of this NAIDOC week 2025, I want to give thanks to those who are striving, thriving, and pushing back against the almost insurmountable societal challenges that we all face everyday. The theme of NAIDOC 2025 is, Next Generation: strength, vision, and legacy. To mob stay, deadly and strong!
We can get there!
(I am a stepchild, raised by an aboriginal man since I was 12 years old, a Palawa man, whose mother was Violet Smith (née Burgess). I have an undergraduate degree in Indigenous studies from the University of Tasmania.
#NAIDOC2025 #NAIDOCWeek #StrengthVisionLegacy
“I wholeheartedly believe that equitable healthcare should be something everyone has the privilege of receiving. Unfortunately, this is not always the case for people with disability. It’s my belief that health providers want to do the right thing, i.e. provide high quality and equitable healthcare to all people. Sometimes, they just need help to understand ways they can do this. I’m really hoping this webinar contributes to improving the healthcare experience of people with disability by helping to create awareness of the barriers experienced, and by discussing strategies that will contribute to improving them, even if it is in a small way.”
~ Mandy Frier
Amanda Frier is the ‘Access for All: Disability awareness for health providers’ manager at CheckUP Australia.
Her background in nutrition and dietetics and lived experience have seen her on the giving and receiving ends of healthcare for people with disability.
This parallel exposure to healthcare for people with disability has helped her understand the importance of disability awareness among health providers.
Mandy believes providing healthcare that is fully inclusive and accessible (beyond just physical access) is an essential first step for all health professionals.
Her PhD on the social determinants of health reinforces her commitment to true health equity for all.
On Tuesday 5th August at 6pm AEST, Mandy and our other panelists will talk about “fair and equitable healthcare” and discuss what is and isn’t working in the provision of healthcare for people living with disability in Australia.
This is an incredibly important topic and we invite you to join us and be part of the conversation.
To register go to:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_6zzLprNATDeWu1GD8ARb5A
On registering, we also invite you to share any questions that you would like to ask our speakers. You can choose to remain anonymous in asking these questions.
The opportunity to ask questions will also be made available during the webinar. However, please be mindful that these questions will be answered dependent on time constraints.
Disability representative organisations (DROs) call for immediate action to address the National Disability Insurance Agency’s conduct to remove a person with disability access to NDIS supports in apparent retaliation for expressing their views on social media about the Scheme.
In a Joint Statement, DROs are calling out the NDIA’s actions to remove a person with disability from the NDIS. The catalyst to this move triggered, in part, by the participant’s post on social media. This is unacceptable. People with disability have a right to freedom of opinion that is not subject to the possibility of losing essential supports.
DROs are calling for:
* An urgent, independent inquiry
* Release of legal advice
* A roundtable with Minister McAllister and the NDIA
To read the full statement, go to:
Melanie Hawkes wears many hats, including PDA’s WA Director and the person who bravely shared her sexual journey as a woman living with disability, reigniting a worldwide conversation around disability rights, intimacy and pleasure.
Her most recent chapter saw her being awarded the Jennifer Burbidge Short Story Award for people with disabilities at the WillyLit Festival in Victoria on Saturday 21st June.
Her winning entry, titled “A New Chapter In My Life”, was about her first session with a sex worker at age 43.
Announced at the awards ceremony, Melanie won first place in her category, with prizes of $500, an anthology of all the shortlisted stories and a certificate.
Her story can be downloaded from the WillyLitFest website:
www.willylitfest.org.au/jennifer-burbidge-writing-award
Click on ”SEE THE 2025 ADA AWARDS SHORTLIST”
Due to the SEXUALLY EXPLICIT CONTENT there is a content WARNING – proceed with caution.
Melanie hopes that this piece will become chapter one of her planned memoir.
It is with great pleasure that we introduce Sarah McInnes, who joined the PDA team this week as Policy/Project Officer.
Sarah comes to us with a wealth of credentials, professional experience, personal understanding and a strong focus on creating positive change and improving services for people with disabilities.
She is a Law (Honours) graduate and passionate disability advocate with a strong background in stakeholder engagement, policy research, and administration. Her commitment to advancing human rights and equal opportunities is deeply informed by her own lived experience of disability.
Before joining Physical Disability Australia, she worked across multiple roles at Disability Rights Advocacy Service, where she facilitated self-advocacy workshops, led stakeholder engagement with councils and service providers, and contributed to impactful law reform and policy submissions. Her role also included direct advocacy support for individuals navigating complex systems including the NDIS, Centrelink, housing, employment, and education.
With a proven ability to liaise with diverse stakeholders, including people with disability, carers, families, service providers and policymakers, Sarah is dedicated to ensuring that the voices of Australians with disability are heard and reflected in policy decisions. She brings a deep understanding of the systemic challenges faced by the disability community and is committed to creating lasting, inclusive change.
In addition to her professional experience, Sarah has been published in the Law Society of South Australia Bulletin for her article on forced sterilisation of women and girls with disabilities and was an editor for the University of South Australia Law Review.
Outside of work, Sarah enjoys reading, watching Disney classics, and attending musicals. She finds joy and inspiration in storytelling, whether on the page or stage, and values the way creative arts bring people together and spark conversations about identity, inclusion, and belonging.
PDA’s CEO, Jeremy Muir, looks forward to working with Sarah and utilising her experiences and skill set. “On behalf of the PDA Board and its staff, I welcome Sarah to our team. I am sure that her genuine interest in the disability space, expertise and skills will add to our organisation’s strength and abilities as we move forwards.”
Welcome Sarah. We are sure that you will be a valued asset to Physical Disability Australia.
“I was recently denied access to a life saving mammogram on the basis that I couldn’t complete a ‘standing transfer’. I believe this was a direct result of assumption and ignorance. Mammograms can be performed from a wheelchair. I know this because I insisted on one, and it was done with little additional fanfare or adjustment required. Imagine my surprise some 3 weeks later only to be recalled and diagnosed with an aggressive Stage 2, triple-positive breast cancer. I didn’t even have a lump!
This experience is not unique to me. Across Australia, access to breast screening services for people with disability is a postcode lottery. The status quo is a patchwork of inconsistent policies, outdated assumptions, and infrastructure that fails to accommodate powered chairs or those who cannot stand.
One state requires transfer into a manual wheelchair, another excludes electric wheelchairs altogether. Some states publish vague caveats like “it may not be possible.” Meanwhile, the equipment and procedures themselves are often not the issue, social bias, lack of knowledge and attitude are the real issues.
This is why I believe we urgently need a national protocol to ensure equal access to healthcare services for people with disabilities. Life-saving services such as mammograms should not be contingent on geography, mobility, or someone’s ability to “fit” a guideline. I am living proof that accessible imaging is possible.
~ Carol Taylor
Join us on Tuesday 5th August at 6pm AEST, to hear Carol and other noteworthy speakers talk about “fair and equitable healthcare”.
We look forward to you joining us for this incredibly important discussion to explore what is and isn’t working in the provision of healthcare for people living with disability in our country.
To register go to:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_6zzLprNATDeWu1GD8ARb5A
On registering, we also invite you to share any questions that you would like to ask our speakers. You can choose to remain anonymous in asking these questions.
The opportunity to ask questions will also be made available during the webinar. However, please be mindful that these questions will be answered dependent on time constraints.
Have you experienced poor access to healthcare services or treatment due to your physical disability?
Have you felt let down by, discriminated against or just not heard by medical professionals?
Why does the expectation of fair and accessible healthcare not always meet reality?
On Tuesday 5th August at 6pm AEST, PDA will be addressing these (and other) issues in a webinar that examines Australia’s healthcare system and where it is failing those living with physical disability.
Our guest speakers will contribute to the conversation, sharing their respective knowledge, experiences and expertise and addressing your concerns and personal perspectives.
Dr Dinesh Palipana OAM is a frontline medical professional, working as a principal medical officer in the emergency department at the Gold Coast University Hospital. His understanding of the medical system, its resources, capabilities, successes, challenges and shortfalls will provide a thorough overview of what needs to be addressed to improve services to people with disability.
The inimitable Carol Taylor is also on our speaking panel. With a background in law, and as the world’s first quadriplegic fashion designer of adaptive fashion and inclusive design, she is already positioned as a strong disability advocate working towards positive change for Australia’s disability community. However, recent issues around her own health have amplified her passion for making things right in a healthcare system that needs to address accessibility and patient-centred care for people with disability.
Another of our speakers that we are proud to announce is Dr Yi Yang, a Research Fellow with the University of Melbourne. Well respected and known for her research on health inequalities faced by people with disability, she is interested in quantifying inequalities in the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and assessing the potential impact of policy changes in reducing these inequalities. As an epidemiologist, Yi has also led studies examining cancer inequalities among people with disability.
We are so incredibly grateful to have these accomplished individuals as panelists at this upcoming webinar and thank them for agreeing to be involved.
Please keep an eye on our socials for exciting announcements about additional panel members.
PDA’s CEO, Jeremy Muir, believes that fair and accessible healthcare is an important conversation that needs to be had, raising issues that need to be addressed. “How would you feel if you arrived to have an X-ray or CT scan only to find you couldn’t access the premises or the scanning technology? Unfortunately, this is the experience for many people living with physical disabilities. With this inequity potentially leading to their missing out on necessary preventative or diagnostic screening, they may be put at an increased risk of time dependent diagnosis and preventative medical care. Why, in 2025, is equitable healthcare not accessible by every Australian and why are the failings and inadequacies stemming from this failure to provide not being put right?”
This webinar will reignite the conversation and provide important insights for people with disability, the healthcare sector, service providers and the very systems that need to hear what’s truly happening and what needs to be sorted now.
To register for this webinar, go to:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/7617509040703/WN_6zzLprNATDeWu1GD8ARb5A
On registering, we also invite you to share any questions that you would like to ask our speakers. You can choose to remain anonymous in asking these questions.
The opportunity to ask questions will also be made available during the webinar. However, please be mindful that these questions will be answered dependent on time constraints.
We look forward to you joining us for this incredibly important discussion and your helping to explore what is and isn’t working in the provision of healthcare for people living with disability in our country.
Join us on Tuesday 5th August at 6pm AEST, to hear Dinesh and other expert speakers talk about “fair and equitable healthcare”.
We look forward to you joining us for this incredibly important discussion to explore what is and isn’t working in the provision of healthcare for people living with disability in our country.
To register go to:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_6zzLprNATDeWu1GD8ARb5A
On registering, we also invite you to share any questions that you would like to ask our speakers. You can choose to remain anonymous in asking these questions.
The opportunity to ask questions will also be made available during the webinar. However, please be mindful that these questions will be answered dependent on time constraints.
We strongly believe that knowledge is power and that the sharing of experiences, advice and understanding is paramount to empowerment and belonging.
The team here at PDA is very proud of the community of members, supporters and followers who we travel with on our journey to amplify the voices of Australians living with physical disability and make a difference in their lives.
Our blogs, webinars, social posts and systemic advocacy work together make our organisation truly representative of and responsive to our community.
We love doing what we do, but it’s always nice to be recognised.
Today we received a wonderful email from the founder of Feedspot acknowledging us as a panelist (https://www.pda.org.au/blog/) in the Top 35 Australian Disability Blogs on the web (https://bloggers.feedspot.com/australian_disability_blogs/).
As an organisation with considerably less staff and financial resources than others on the list, we are incredibly grateful for this accolade and thank all of you who read and enjoy our blogs and posts.
A big thank you too, to our blog contributors who share their experiences and advice.
If you have something to share as a blog, or if you have a topic that you’d like us to cover, please send us an email to promotion@pda.org.au, leave us a comment or send us a message.
Together let’s build and support our community.
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