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Top classes or remedial ones, nerds or footballers, were all the same to Albert: he was first a teacher of boys and then a teacher of maths. One of Sydney's most prestigious schools offered him a position which he turned down due to a disability that would remain with him for the rest of his life.
If you walked into a public service office in the early 1980s, you'd see typing pools, mailrooms and whole floors full of people doing routine clerical work. People with disabilities were disproportionately employed in low level positions. Today, most of those positions have gone.
Julia Gillard this week described access to disability services as a 'cruel lottery', and declared support for proposed reforms. Her response demonstrates compassion and goodwill during a time when many citizens have expressed disgust at Labor's treatment of asylum seekers.
Research suggests that 85 per cent of Australians support legal access to abortion for 'severe disabilities', and 60 per cent for 'mild disabilities'. While we encourage tolerance and diversity in our multi-ethnic society, our medical culture is moving in the opposite direction.
Upon seeing the steps in front of one big city Catholic cathedral, we looked for disability access. We followed a sign uphill to find the side entrance also had steps. So we made our way to the back of the church, where we discovered a long ramp and a door. We rang the bell and waited. And waited.
The Budget contains a number of positive measures to promote mental health, employment and training. But without greater investment in individualised support for job seekers and those on disability support pensions to assist their transition to work, we are not likely to see major change.
Prime Minister Gillard's speech to the Sydney Institute last week, and Tony Abbot’s policy announcements two weeks ago, drew unanimous response from the community sector — that getting people into work is a sound objective, but it's harder than it looks.
In a recent interview on ABC radio, Abbott argued that work isn't just about the economy, it's also about individual welfare and the social fabric. He's right to point out that the Disability Support Pension focuses too much on what recipients can't do and not enough on what they can.
It can be difficult to communicate with a person who does not use speech, to interact with someone who requires high levels of assistance, or engage with someone who lacks control of their sounds or movements. Many such people are simply avoided, ignored and rejected.
Many of us value our participation in the election and have been excited by the resulting hung parliament. But some adult citizens cannot be placed on the roll at all, with a significant number of Australians with intellectual disabilities or mental illness disenfranchised.
I used to be a worker. I left school at 15 and worked till I was 45. But it now seems that I was someone else then. Am I disabled? Or just lazy? Down the street I see workers in overalls, and for some reason I can't look them in the eye.
The $3 billion blowout in Federal Government spending on disability pensions highlights the financial side of a crisis in our midst. The story of Jason, a relative of mine who is an addict and on a disability pension, reveals a personal side.
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